


Shamelessly Flirting

by LucyLegacies



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:49:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23473495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucyLegacies/pseuds/LucyLegacies
Summary: Hope and Lizzie are both writers under pseudonyms and they start to talk and flirt.I just don't know how to do summaries.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Lizzie Saltzman
Comments: 148
Kudos: 162





	1. The Pseudonym

**Author's Note:**

> Guys, I know I'm currently writing two others hizzie fics but I really felt like posting it. 
> 
> I don't care if you don't like (that's a laughable lie, you know I care so very much, thank you)
> 
> This idea popped in my mind and I had to do it. I hope, you, my loyal followers, trust me to finish all the things I started. I WILL.
> 
> Quarantine is really eating my brain and I need to multi-task or else I'll die. 
> 
> ps: i finished writing it 2 in the morning after spending 3 hours doing math. I'm sorry for my msitakes and wrong decisions in life  
> I don't trust my english enough, or even my portuguese for that matter, to be correct this early in the morning 
> 
> To my babe.

Lizzie was almost ready to leave her apartment and go to university when she heard a blip from her laptop. An email. Lizzie grunted. It was probably her editor demanding Lizzie’s presence in the next Book Convention. Couldn’t she understand that Lizzie didn’t want to be seen or known? The whole point of having a pseudonym was that she didn’t need to go to conventions or book signings or whatever other shit. Penelope Park had been trying to get her to show her face for four years now. Lizzie liked her life very much. Writing was a hobby. She loved to write, yes, but she loved equations more. She wasn’t doctoring in _Quantum Physics_ for nothing. She rolled her eyes as she put on her glasses and opened her email.

It wasn’t her editor. It was from Andrea Labonair. Lizzie’s heart skipped a beat. Andrea was one of her favorite writers. Lizzie had all her books and she had read them at least three times each. Not only that. Andrea was also a pseudonym. Her books were best sellers and were usually being compared to Lizzie’s because they were always _hot topic_ even if no one had ever set eyes on the writers’ faces. She started to read Andrea’s email.

_“Dear Liz (can I call you Liz?),_

_I figured you out. It’s an anagram, isn’t it? **Liz Annabeth Jemena Saltz**. You scrambled your real name to make a new one. It’s genius if you ask me, but I didn’t expect something different from you. Your books are amazingly clever and your pseudonym being an anagram is just a treat really._

_I feel like Liz is your real name, though. I don’t know you, but I think you would like to have part of your real name in it. Now, answer me. Did you use an anagram generator, or did you create it using your brain? You got me hooked up and that’s not something easy to do._

_Also, you look like a nerd. Those with glasses and books with extremely long and complicated names. I know I’m right so… what’s your thing?_

_If you’re wondering how I got your personal email… that’s my thing: do impossible things._

_Answer me soon._

_Sincerely, Andrea Labonair._

Lizzie had to read the email four times before her mind wrapped around the idea of Andrea Labonair having the nerve to boss Lizzie around. _Answer me soon?_ Like hell Lizzie would. She bit her lip. Actually, she really wanted to answer. First, because Andrea had been the first to question Lizzie about it being an anagram. Not even Lizzie’s editor or her sister, Josie, knew about it. They only thought the weird name was Lizzie being _peculiar._ Second reason to why Lizzie’s fingers were anxiously tapping her laptop was that Liz was really her name and Andrea had figured it out. Third was Andrea’s nerve to call her a nerd. Of course, she was one, but it wasn’t Andrea’s business to point that out. Lizzie rolled her eyes. She would answer her. But not so soon. Lizzie closed her laptop and put it in her backpack.

She waited a week to answer Andrea. A week of stopping herself from sending her reply. She would not answer Andrea _soon_. But one week was enough. Lizzie started to type what she meticulously wrote and edited in her mind. Lizzie smiled satisfied as she hit send. She hoped Andrea wouldn’t answer her back after a taste of Lizzie being a rude ass.

_“Andrea,_

_It’s an anagram indeed. I’ll give you a point for figuring out. Do you want a gold star sticker because of it?_

_Thank you for saying that my books are amazingly clever. They are a mirror of me. Yours are pretty above average too. Extra points for that._

_Liz is my name… partly. Why do you want to call me Liz? Do you intend on emailing me constantly? You got that hooked up? Am I your crush now? ;)_

_I did the anagram in my beautiful, clever, amazing and glassless head, thank you very much. Also, why would the names on my books be complicated? Don’t you know how to read? :)_

_I’m not wondering how you got it. You’re rich and money can make a lot of impossible things happen. I also could have gotten your email… if I wanted to talk to you._

_Sincerely, Liz._

_Ps: try your luck asking things nicely next time.”_

* * *

Not far from where Lizzie was, Hope Mikaelson received an email. She rolled her eyes. It was probably her fucking editor demanding her ass to be in the con. Hope was already picking up her phone to call Penelope and tell her to fuck off when she noticed that the email wasn’t from her. Hope opened and started to read.

“Fuck you, bitch.” Was Hope’s reaction. Then she started to laugh. When she emailed Liz Saltz, she wasn’t expecting her to be like this. Was she a fucking kindergarten teacher to offer Hope a star sticker? She was a bitch and Hope liked it. It was the closest thing of fun that Hope had in weeks. Weeks since Hope even talked to someone besides her editor or the delivery people.

_“A little less dear Liz,_

_So, you’re a bitch. That was unexpected. It was really my fault for stereotyping you as a shy nerd. I should have known that someone who writes her protagonist to be as sassy as she is couldn’t be just something. You know what? I like you, Liz. Not as a crush, though. Bitchy is not my type… as hot as they may be. ;)_

_You don’t wear glasses? You just broke my fragile heart. I don’t think I can live in a world where my midnight dreams of you are lies. ;)_

_Ouch for saying that my books are just above average. Fortunately, my confidence is as big as my paycheck and I don’t need your opinion. Double ouch for saying that you didn’t want to talk to me._

_Sincerely, Andrea._

_Ps: if I ask nicely will you stop being a bitch?”_

Hope pressed send and closed the email, wide smile on her face. Her smile faded when looked at her messy room.

“I’m going to kill you, cat.” Hope screamed as she started to pick up her clothes. She shouldn’t have adopted the damned animal. The thing was a messy little son of a bitch. When she was picking up the last piece of clothe from the ground, her cellphone ringed. She answered knowing the only person that had her number.

“What do you want, Penelope? And if you ask me for the next book, you already know the answer. If you’re momentarily suffering from selective memory, though, I don’t care to remind you: fuck off.” Hope said angry. Penelope was… a lot.

“Good morning for you too, Hope. I see that you’re not in a better mood than yesterday. Sorry if I’m worried that you spend so much time inside your shitty apartment without having a conversation with someone other than your cat. I’m not worried about you, though. I’m worried about my paycheck.” Hope rolled her eyes. Bitchy was really not her type, unless… Nope, no exception.

“What do you want?”

“Let’s get out, get some fresh air, eat something and talk.” Hope almost threw up.

“I would rather die.”

“Are you really sure you’re 26? You’re childish, Hope.”

“I don’t care.” Hope listened to Penelope sighing on the other side.

“Okay. Let me get this done with because I'm an employed person and I depend on it to feed my wife.” Hope rolled her eyes again waiting for Penelope’s _to do_ list that Hope wouldn’t do.

“First, you need to get your next book done by the end of the month. Tick tock, Hope. Second, don’t you think it’s time to leave the shadows and say to the world who Andrea Labonair really is? Imagine how crowded next con will be if we say you’ll finally show your pretty face? Third, I need you to sign the authorization for me to answer your fans’ letters since you don’t do shit. End of official business, now you can start with degrading words towards me.”

“Thank you for letting me know. First, I have till the end of the month so don’t rush me! Second, I like the shadows. Third, I’ll sign it today and fax it to you. I’m not doing degrading words today because I’m actually in a good mood.”

“A good mood? Let me guess. You finally emailed Liz Saltz and got a reply. It was about time. You asked me to get you her email 8 months ago and I had to work hard to get it.” Penelope said excited. “How is she like?”

“A bitch.”

“Is she? That’s surprising.” Said Penelope sarcastically. Hope had the feeling she knew what she was talking about.

“You really don’t know her?” Asked Hope suspiciously.

“No, I don’t. And even if I did, I couldn’t tell you because of the confidentiality contract. You know how that works. Like I said, Hope, leave your apartment for a few hours and maybe life surprises you.”

“I don’t want a surprise. And that’s enough talking for one day.”

“It’s always a pleasure talking to you, Hope. No matter how difficult you are, I’ve seen worse. Maybe one day I’ll introduce you to them.”

“Maybe one day I'll care. Bye.” Said Hope turning off the phone just to see Liz’s reply.

_Andrea (I feel like you have the upper hand since you know my real name, so… can you tell me yours?),_

_I’m glad you admitted it was your fault that we started on the wrong foot. I’m usually right so you better get used to it. I’m glad bitchy is not your type… I wouldn’t want you developing a silly little crush on me. When you fall its going to be from fucking Olympus Mons (in case you don’t know it, it’s the highest mountain known in our solar system). I am hot. So are you and all human beings. It’s actually because of the lot of exothermic chemistry reactions happening inside of our bodies._

_You asked about my thing… It’s being an impolite genius. ;)_

_About your books, I’ve read a few. Confidence as big as your paycheck? Okay, then. About you getting my email… I must confess I was kind of surprised. My editor is a bitch and I would like to know the person that convinced her to give you my email. I only know one person able to get anything from her and I’m pretty she wasn’t responsible for you getting my email._

_Sincerely, LizZIE ;)_

_Ps: I like it when you ask nicely. Try it more often… you never know what you might get._

A bitch, a scientist and a confident flirter? _Game on, babe_ , thought Hope smirking.

* * *

“Come on, Lizzie. Just me, you and Penelope. We can talk a bit, have fun, you can get some fresh air that doesn’t smell like sterile lab and we can even eat something. Have you been eating lately, Lizzie?” Lizzie didn’t even look at Josie. Her subatomic model simulation was more interesting than her sister’s trap.

“I don’t want to get fresh air. I enjoy the smell of cleanness of the science building. And I do eat, Josie.”

“Please, Lizzie. I don’t even get to talk to you anymore.” Said Josie pouting, knowing Lizzie wouldn’t want to make her sad.

“Okay, Josie. Let me just close the lab.” Said Lizzie sighing. When they left the lab, it was already morning. _A weird phrase colocation_ , thought Lizzie. _When they left the lab, it was already morning and Lizzie realized she had spent the whole night working._ That’s better.

“Oh no, Lizzie. You’ve been losing time in the lab again? Do you want me to talk to the janitor to call me again when you stay late? We talked about that.” Said Josie. A lot of words at once.

“It was only this night because I had to run a long simulation for my paper. I don’t sleep on the lab anymore and you know it. Now where’s the fun you were promising me? I already find it difficult to hear the words fun and Penelope in the same sentence. Why did you have to marry my fucking editor, Josie? Is she that good in bed?” Lizzie smiled perversely at her sister’s blush. “So, she is that good in bed.”

“Not that it matters to you.” Said Josie changing the subject. “I didn’t even think you would remember how it is to be good in bed since there’s, I don’t know, three, four or maybe six…” Lizzie glared at Josie. “… years…” Lizzie narrowed her eyes. “…since you, you know.” Finished Josie graciously making her point.

“I just didn’t feel like shattering my heart again since, you know, _that last time_.” Lizzie said. Her mind going back to years ago.

“You mean since _the only time._ ” Josie pointed out. “You know, Lizzie, I really think you should look for h-”

“No, Josie. Don’t even start.” Lizzie said rolling her eyes. “Where are you taking me?”

“A picnic. Penelope’s waiting for us.” Lizzie grunted.

They got there really fast and like Josie said, Penelope was already waiting with enough food to feed an army. Lizzie rolled her eyes at their concern about food.

“Hey, wife. You’re especially beautiful today.” Said Penelope kissing Josie and then looking at Lizzie. “I don’t even need to hear your voice to know you’re especially bitchy today, Lizzie”

“Especially bitchy is my brand. Do you even have one since taking up Satan’s mantle isn’t much of making a name for yourself?” Lizzie said, fast and clever. That was also her brand.

“So, the day is beautiful. Let’s eat.” Josie intervened sitting and picking some grapes. They ate as Josie babbled about how she wanted to punch one of her cases. She was a lawyer and a hot-headed one. “… for god’s sake. Just because he’s innocent doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to care about the victim.” Said Josie finally taking a breath.

“So, Lizzie. How is life?” Asked Penelope.

“I sent you a book last week. I’m not due one for a long time now.”

“I wasn’t going to ask about books.”

“If you were going to try to convince me to _‘step out of the shadows’_ or whatever… no. I like to be unknown.”

“I wasn’t going this path either. I know better than to talk to you about that in front of my wife. She doesn’t need to hear your angry screeches.” Said Penelope making Josie buff.

“So, what do you want?”

“To know how my sister in law is doing.” Said Penelope nicely. Too nice.

“Monetarily? Excellent. Physically? Just started a new work out routine. Emotionally? Never better. You need to be specific, Penelope.” She watched as Penelope and Josie exchanged a look. She was right. This was a trap.

“More like how you would feel about meeting someone?” Said Penelope and Lizzie grunted.

“Why do people think life is only complete when you get to give your heart to someone?” Said Lizzie rolling her eyes. “It doesn’t matter, though.”

“Why not?” Asked Josie, and if Lizzie was paying attention, she would have noticed the glint of mischief in her eyes.

“I’m already talking to someone.”

“Oh, yeah?” Asked Penelope curious.

“Yeah. I haven’t seen them yet but don’t worry about it.”

“Oooo, I’m already interested. Please, keep me updated.” Josie exclaimed in excitement.

“Okay. Since I already had my mandatory family lunch, can I go back to my apartment?” She said looking at Josie.

“Oh, yeah, I’ll take you home.”

Before losing courage, Lizzie opened her laptop to see if Andrea had answered her. She had. Lizzie really didn’t want to get into a flirting game right now, but her sister was relentless, and Lizzie didn’t feel like being love matched by Josie and Penelope. At least, she could make the best out of this situation and have some fun.

She wrote Andrea an answer and went to take a shower. When she got back, Andrea had already answered her back... Maybe she would have a lot of fun, she thought smirking.

“Dear _Liz (I feel like calling you Liz. It fits my fantasies of you better),_

_So, you’re usually right, huh? Well, I’m usually wrong so I guess that’s a match. I didn’t know about Olympus Mons. I’ll search about it since I’m diving headfirst in it according to you. Is Exothermic chemistry reactions dirty talking in your nerd mind? It doesn’t matter if it isn’t. I like it._

_Well, my editor is also a bitch that gets what she wants. I just guess mine is bitchier than yours._

_Yours, Hope (my real name just for you. I would get used with me getting the upper hand, though) ;)_

_Ps: would you PLEASE elaborate what I might… get?_


	2. Meetings and Family Dinners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope decides to finally meet Josie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everybody. This chapter is kind of a explainer of sorts. It sets the landscape for the rest of it. I'm excited because I'm surprised with its ending. haha
> 
> I hope you like it.

Hope was sleeping peacefully when light started to burn her skin. “What the hell?” Screamed Hope opening her eyes just to be blinded by the fucking light. She closed them again and started to open them slowly, waiting for them to get used to the light.

“Good morning, Hope.” Penelope said calmly sitting on Hope’s bed. “Are you okay?”

“You just burned me alive, so no, Penelope, I’m not okay.” Hope said furious. Penelope only nodded in a condescending way.

“I’m sorry about that. It’s just that today is the day, Hope.”

“I don’t want it.” Said Hope rolling her eyes.

“Me neither but is part of our contract that we have one bimonthly meeting with the big boss. Now get up and shower. The clothes you’ll wear are in the box by the door.” Said Penelope pointing where.

“Why did you buy me clothes?” Hope said getting up.

“Because your _getting out_ clothes only include one pair of jeans and the same shirt in different colors.” Penelope said rolling her eyes.

“Fair enough.” Hope said and went to the bathroom. When she finished cleaning up, she opened the box to find a simple burgundy suit, a black shirt and oxfords. Classy like Penelope, Hope thought. “How do I look?” Hope exited the bedroom to find Penelope typing on her phone on the couch. She gave Hope an approbation look.

“Like you actually care about your job.” Penelope said sarcastically earning a mischievous look from Hope. “I also brought you coffee and croissants.”

“You’re god, Penelope.” Said Hope eating it in three bites and picking up another.

“Funny that you said that.” Said Penelope with a playful look. “Eat with your mouth closed, Hope. You’re letting crumbs fall on your clothes. Why do I have to be your mother?” Penelope asked annoyed.

“Because I’m an orphan and you adopted me.” Said Hope laughing. “Where’s my other mommy?” Hope asked to annoy Penelope more.

“Josie’s taking care of another child right now.” Penelope said rolling her eyes.

“I thought I was an only child.” Said Hope pouting.

“We should really get you to a therapist, Hope. Your mood swings are scary. A few days ago you were telling me to fuck off and today you’re all sweet. Why are you sweet? Did you get laid?”

“I wish.” Said Hope still eating.

“You don’t wish hard enough to leave your apartment for it.” Penelope retorted, then her eyes widened. “Oooo, I know why you’re happy. You’ve been talking to that other writer.” Hope only gave her a half smile. “I am right. So, how is she?” Hope thought about talking to Penelope about it. She didn’t really have friends to talk too and Penelope was available.

“She’s a nerd. I think I have a type. There was Landon Kirby when I was a teenager and he was also a nerd, but a boring one. Then there was this girl in college, and she was a total nerd too. Too bad it was only a summer fling. Now this one. She’s funny, I give her that. And sarcastic, and almost more cynic than me. She is a bitch, like I told you before. You would love her. Or hate her.” Hope said, realizing too late that she was rambling. She really should get out more if staying at home was making her this excited over getting one or two daily emails from Liz.

“Maybe both.” Penelope said raising her eyebrow, making Hope have this feeling that she knew what she was talking about.

“I don’t know if I should tell you this, but her pseudonym? Liz Annabeth Jemena Saltz...” Hope waited for Penelope to ask.

“What about it?”

“It’s totally an anagram.” Said Hope excited.

“An anagram.” Penelope said like an eureka moment. Then she buffed shaking her head, making Hope frown.

“You can’t tell anyone, of course.” Hope remembered her.

“I won’t. Now that you’ve finished eating your weight in food, can we go?” Hope nodded and then went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. They left Hope’s apartment and got into Penelope’s car.

“How’s your wife?” Hope asked earning a weird look from Penelope.

“She’s fine, thank you. Why the sudden interest?”

“I’d like to meet her.” At that, Penelope hit the break. Hope looked at her without even flinching.

“Why do you want to meet my wife, Hope? I’ve known you for five years and you never wanted anything too personal. Your words, not mine.”

“To be honest? My family is coming to visit me in three weeks and if I don’t make a family dinner and have at least two friends attending, they’ll probably move in with me until they get me married and with three kids.” Hope answered truthfully. She could always pay someone to be her _pretend friends,_ but it didn’t feel right to lie to them. Her family was so overprotective of her that Hope didn’t understand how she managed to leave New Orleans and live by herself without one of them moving right across the street. She imagined that with both Freya and Rebekah building a family and having kids and uncle Kol starting a new company, they got busy over the last few years. Now that the kids were born and the business established, however, they had time to fuss over her again. They would all be coming together to spend time with Hope. At Hope’s house. The one they believed Hope had. “Talking about it, I need you to find me a big house with a garden, a pool and even a playground.”

“I’m your editor? Have you read the job’s description? And how can I even find you a house like that and make it ready that quickly?”

“You see, your wife is a lawyer and I’m pretty sure she can make it fast.” Hope said, almost thinking about pleading. She watched as Penelope came to a decision.

“Okay. I’ll talk to Josie and _if_ she wants to help you, we’ll talk.” Penelope said.

“Can you ask her now?” Hope said like an annoying child making Penelope give her a look and take her phone. Hope watched as Penelope waits for Josie to pick up.

“Hey, wife. I was just-” Penelope stops talking, apparently interrupted by Josie. “She’s just giving you a hard time. Did you feed her? Tell her that if she doesn’t put her clothes right now, we’re going to add one more day her punishment.” Said Penelope with devilish eyes. “That’s okay. Anything for you.” Penelope said in a sweet voice that made Hope want to throw up. “I was just calling you because Andrea Labonair wants to meet you. Yeah, really. Okay. I’ll tell her. I love you too.”

“And?”

“She told me to bring you home tonight. She has a day off and she’ll be cooking.” Hope smiled brightly as Penelope finally turned on the car again.

“About whom were you talking?” Hope asked confused. She knew Penelope didn’t have kids.

“Josie’s sister.”

“I didn’t even know she had a sister.”

“You’ll meet her soon enough.” Said Penelope darkly and mischievously. They were almost getting in the office when Hope got an email from Liz. _About time_ , Hope thought. Liz had waited two whole days to answer her last email. Hope knew she did it on purpose. She knew close to nothing about her, but she knew she was stubborn. Hope opened the email.

_Hope,_

_I find it impossible for anyone to be bitchier than my editor, but I’ll take your words for it._

_I wasn’t dirty talking. If I was… you would’ve known. ;)_

_Since you’re found out my name is an anagram, I felt compelled to find something about your name too. Andrea Labonair… is family, isn’t she? Your books are all about the power and strength family give to one another._

_Not yours, LizZIE._

_Ps: you might get… a great friend to talk to ;)_

Hope smiled and put away her phone, her stomach doing funny things while she left the car and entered the building with Penelope.

“Where’s the other?” Asked the secretary after saying her greetings to Hope and taking them to the Meeting Room.

“She’ll be here in a few.” Penelope answered back. When the secretary left, Hope looked at Penelope.

“I didn’t know another writer would be coming here today. They usually schedule it so the days don’t match.” Hope asked curious.

“Like I said before, there are people harder than you to deal with. This special case should’ve been here last week, but they decided that they weren’t in the mood and since today is the boss’ last day before vacation, there was no other way.” Penelope said tired. As if the _special case_ was indeed special.

“Who’s it?” Hope asked, curiosity raising. Penelope only glared at her. “You won’t tell me?”

“No.” Well, Hope supposed it was fair. All the writers here were unknown and Penelope couldn’t even tell her wife their real names unless they let it. Hope was not that interested, though. The only writer she wanted to know about was already talking to her, Hope thought with a smile.

* * *

“Penelope said that if you don’t get up, we’ll increase your punishment to two weekly family lunches.” Josie said to Lizzie while talking to Penelope on the phone.

“Tell her I hate her.” Lizzie said standing up and going to the bathroom. She knew she had to go to the meeting. She was an adult and she knew her responsibilities. The thing is that every meeting was the same: new books, cons and fairs and the annoying _dropping the pseudonym_. She had been able to postpone it for a week but today was the day, she thought sighing. She took a shower and put some clothes on. “Where’s my food?” She asked going to her kitchen.

“Coffee and croissants from mine and Penelope’s favorite place.” Said Josie making Lizzie give her a disgusted face. She ate all of it happily, though. When she finished, she took her phone and emailed Hope back. She had spent the last two day reviewing her books to find any _hints of Hope_ in it. The more she read, the more she had this feeling that Andrea Labonair was actually a family member.

“What are you doing?” Josie asked coming closer.

“Emailing Andrea.” Lizzie answered still looking at her phone, not realizing her sister’s humorous look. “Like I told you, we’ve been talking lately.” Lizzie said cementing her idea that she was getting to know someone.

“Is she nice?” Josie asked.

“Not the word I would use. She’s flirty and confident and funny.” Said Lizzie smiling.

“Are you in love with her?”

“Of course not.” Lizzie buffed.

“How can I believe your assessment of your relationship if, according to you…” Josie made an air quote. “… when people are engaged in romantic love, their neural machinery responsible for making critical assessments of those with whom they are in love shuts down.” Finished Josie with another air quote and a sarcastic look.

“Not according to me. I’m not a neuroscientist. This is Doctor Schwartz’s from Harvard research.” Lizzie said fake smiling.

“I don’t care. You’re in love with her. Now let’s go before you get late.” They left the apartment and went to Lizzie’s car. “Oh, I forgot to tell you. Tonight Penelope will bring a friend home and I would love your help to cook dinner.” Josie said unpretentiously. Too unpretentiously. Lizzie narrowed her eyes.

“Why would you want my help? I’m terrible at it.” Lizzie said slowly. 

“We can spend some time together. Remember when we were little and dad would make cookies with us?” Josie said smiling at the childhood memory.

“I remember dad making the cookies while you tried to set the house on fire, and I ate the sprinkles.” Lizzie said making Josie frown.

“Well, we have an electric stove now and no sprinkles.” Said Josie.

“Okay, fine.” Lizzie gave Josie this small victory. The truth is that she liked to watch Josie at home. Her sister was so happy and Lizzie would sometimes feel a little jealous of it. Lizzie watched as Josie started to get all excited to see Penelope again in the office as if she hadn’t just seen her a few hours ago. Lizzie rolled her eyes. _Oxytocin was a bitch._

When they got in the building, a secretary came to them and said they would have to wait because Penelope was in another meeting. Lizzie took one of her books from her backpack and started to read to pass the time. After a while, she was so caught up that she only noticed Penelope when she was already in front of her.

“Can we get this done with?” She asked Penelope standing up. Penelope nodded and took her to the meeting room. “Who was here, by the way?” Lizzie asked as soon as they entered the room.

“You know I can’t say.” Penelope answered still reading some papers. “But since I’m a good person and I know you’re curious…” Penelope looked at her smiling. “…look outside. She should be in a gorgeous burgundy suit.” Penelope said and Lizzie’s eyes snapped to the window searching. When Lizzie spotted her, something weird washed over her. The woman had her back turned to Lizzie and if it was any indication, she was hot. Something was not right, however. _That hair, that body…_ Lizzie thought. But it couldn’t be. There’s no way it could be, Lizzie rationalized shaking her head. Then the meeting started, and Lizzie put away the weird feeling, after all, what would _she_ be doing here?

* * *

“Do you want me to bring something?” Asked Hope on the phone to Penelope.

“Expensive wine.” Penelope told her.

“Okay. Anything else?”

“Josie said no fancy dinner so wear something simple. Not that it would be a problem to you.” Penelope said and Hope rolled her eyes.

“Okay. See you soon.” Hope looked herself in the mirror. She was nice looking. She drove the car to a store, bought two expensive bottles of wine and drove to Penelope’s house. She was nervous for some reason. Before leaving the car, she took her phone and emailed Liz back.

_Liz,_

_I’m now curious about how you would dirty talk. You can’t say something like that and don’t present a proof. I thought you were a scientist and scientists must provide empirical proof ;)_

_You’re right. Andrea Labonair is family._

_Are we analyzing each other’s writing right now? I could point out that yours show a great pent up sexual urge. Am I right?_

_Still yours, Hope._

_Ps: just to talk?_

She was calmer after writing it. Funny how talking to a stranger made Hope feel better. She left the car and went to the house, knocking on the door. Penelope opened to her.

“Come in.” And as Penelope lead Hope to the kitchen, Hope looked around at the couple’s pictures hung on the wall. Josie was beautiful and she and Penelope looked extremely in love in all pics. When she was almost by the kitchen, one last picture stole her attention. In it, two young girls, about fifteen years old, were standing by the beach, bright smile and messy hair. One was Josie, Hope noticed from the other pictures. The other girl, though, was the one that took Hope’s breath away. _No,_ she thought as she finally entered the kitchen and found the same blue eyes she had seen in the picture. And in the past.

“Mikaelson.” Said the girl, all blood draining from her face.

“I’m going to kill you, Saltzman.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like it?
> 
> Now that we already set that they knew each other somehow, we can go on with fighting on one end and flirting on the other.


	3. Parties and Invitations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope and Lizzie meet for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooo, I was quick with this one. I wanted to wait three days or four to post it, but I don't really understand the concept of waiting so I just post everything as soon as I finish. So, have it.
> 
> I liked the flashbacks. I hope you like it too.

_“Look, Lizzie. We just turned eighteen and we’re finishing our first year at university. You in the best science program of the country and me in the best law school. We spent the whole year showing to people that we’re better than they are. Now is our time to show them that we’re also better at partying. I know you are. Where’s the Lizzie that planned our sweet sixteen since we were five?” Josie finished with a raised eyebrow._

_“It would help if you were here, Jo.” Lizzie said softly. “We both know that I always needed you more than you needed me.” She said avoiding her sister’s eyes._

_“Oh, Lizzie. You know we both need each other the same much. And you can come to find me tomorrow after the party. I will still be here till next week before I go to Europe.” Josie said._

_“No. I can’t. I have a lot of experiments to run in the lab.”_

_“During summer vacation?” Josie asked incredulous. “Lizzie, I’m going to the party here and I’d like for you to also go to your party. Promise me to think about it?” Said Josie rushing to finish the conversation. Her roommate probably telling her they need to go now._

_“I promise I will think.” Lizzie said closing her laptop. She looked around her room thinking about the party. She didn’t want to go, but her sister was right. She spent the whole year studying to prove she’s the best and now she didn’t have any friends. She was too awkward. Being away from Josie also didn’t help. Her twin has been her best friend, if not her only one, all her life and now she was miles away. Josie made a lot of friends there. She was going to Europe next week with them. She had asked if Lizzie wanted to come, but Lizzie didn’t feel like gluing on her sister and preventing her to have fun with her friends, as hard as it had been to make this decision._

_Lizzie took a deep breath and went to the bathroom. She looked in the mirror. “You are going to get your ass some friends today.” She told herself with determination. She looked at the flyer to the party. Everyone was supposed to go with a shirt with their last name written on it. Lizzie went to her closet and found her old QB1 T-shirt. She finished dressing and checked herself in the mirror again. She took another deep breath and left her room, walking all the way to the house where the party was happening. She was about to enter it when someone came running and accidentally bumped her to the side making her hit her head in one little lamppost that some unstylish person put there and fall to the ground. She noticed three things next: one, her glasses were broken. Two, there was blood dripping from the head. Three, some girl was holding her._

_“Wow, Saltzman, the party didn’t even start and you’re already on the ground.” The girl said._

_“How do you know my name?” Lizzie asked._

_“You must’ve hit your head pretty hard, huh? You’re literally wearing it.” The girl said and Lizzie, as genius as she was, felt stupid._

_“Yeah, right. And you are? I can’t read without my glasses.”_

_“Mikaelson. Let me check this wound.” Mikaelson said helping her to sit down. Lizzie waited for the girl to check her head. “It’s a little cut. I don’t think you need to go to the hospital but if you want to, I can take you there. I just got here, and I haven’t had a drink yet.” The girl offered. Lizzie thought about it._

_“That’s okay. I’ll just get back to my room.” Said Lizzie getting up with the girl’s help. “Thank you for everything, though. I didn’t even want to come anyway.”_

* * *

_Hope looked at the girl in front of her in disbelief. She looked like a fifteen years old lost child. Hope watched as she started to walk her way back to her dorm. Hope should go after her. She was bleeding, glassless and she looked like it was the first time she ever got out of her dorm to do anything other than study. Hope cursed herself and ran to the girl. “Let me walk you back to your dorm.” She said and the girl jumped making Hope shake her head. Who would leave this girl alone in a university full of drunk assholes? “What were you doing alone at that party?”_

_“None of your business.” The girl said making Hope laugh. She had claws._

_“Fair enough.” Hope said watching the girl open her purse and put her broken glasses inside. “Without being a bitch, but can you see without your glasses? Because we can stop by the pharmacy to buy another pair.” Hope saw her open her mouth to say no and then closing it._

_“I have a spare in my locker in the lab.” The girl said and Hope frowned._

_“Today was last day. The labs are closed.”_

_“I have the keys.” The girl said a little bit embarrassed and Hope laughed because of course the nerd would have the keys to the lab. “Why are you laughing, Mikaelson?”_

_“Nothing, Saltzman. Well, lead the way to your lab.” Hope said making the girl frown._

_“You don’t need to come.”_

_“I wouldn’t let you walk alone at night.” Hope said and the girl nodded. They walked in silence to the science building. Hope watched as the girl led them inside the lab and took a pair of glasses. Then she took a First Aid box. “Let me help you.” Hope said going to the girl. She cleaned the cut, put an antiseptic and a band aid. “There you go. All pretty.” She said watching the girl blush._

_“Thank you.” She said putting on the glasses. Hope watched with amazement as the girl blushed even more after it._

_“Well, let’s not waste our night, Saltzman. Classes are over and summer just begun. Let’s make something fun. What do you say?” Hope didn’t even know where her proposition had come from. It’s just that the girl looked very pretty and nerdy and Hope’s body felt very hot._

_“What do you have in mind, Mikaelson?” She said smirking confidently and making Hope’s knee almost buckle with her beauty. If Hope was a clever person, she would’ve realized that what she said next could never have ended well._

_“A lot of things…” She said raising one eyebrow and making the girl blush even more. “…but we can start with ice cream.” Hope said realizing the pleased surprise that crossed Saltzman’s face._

_“Okay. My name is-”_

_“Don’t tell me.” Hope stopped her. “And I won’t tell you mine. Not now, anyway. We can decide along the way.” And Hope knew she had won the girl right there._

_“Fair. Now, where’s my ice cream?”_

* * *

Lizzie laughed at Andrea’s email. The woman liked to tease. Lizzie was just going to email her back when she heard a knock on the door. Penelope’s friend. She looked at Josie. “Can you now tell me the name of the friend?” Lizzie asked annoyed. Josie just ignored her like she had done all afternoon when Lizzie asked the question. “Okay, I’m going to know it in a bit anyway.” She said rolling her eyes. She watched as Penelope walked back to the kitchen with someone following her. As soon as Lizzie’s eyes met the visitor’s one, she felt all blood leaving her face. No. NO NO NO.

“Mikaelson.” Lizzie said weakly.

“I’m going to kill you, Saltzman.” The other woman screamed at her making Lizzie snap out of her stupor.

“Oh, that’s ironic. I should be the one doing the killing.” Lizzie said angry.

“Oh, really? Because you were the one that left me naked. Is your name even Saltzman?” Hope said sarcastically. _The nerve,_ thought Lizzie calming herself. She wouldn’t let _this person_ get under her skin again.

“Why did you bring her here, Penelope?” Lizzie turned to her. Penelope’s face showed more surprise than Lizzie had ever seen. Good to know that she hadn’t done it on purpose.

“She works with me. I’m her-”

“Editor partner.” Mikaelson interrupted Lizzie, making her turn.

“I wasn’t talking to you.” Retorted Lizzie.

“Nothing new. I’m already accustomed with you not talking to me.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Dinner is ready. Miss Mikaelson, Elizabeth. Let’s eat.” Josie said looking at Penelope for her to stop looking like a dead confused fish and help her. Lizzie rolled her eyes.

“Elizabeth? That’s your name?” Mikaelson asked and Lizzie noticed something close to horror cross her eyes.

“Yes, Mikaelson. Elizabeth Jenna Saltzman.” Said Lizzie watching her whisper Lizzie’s name as if it was a dark spell. “Do you want a star sticker for repeating it?” Lizzie watched as the other woman’s eyes widened at her words and then she gave a little fake smile.

“Are you a fucking kindergarten teacher?” She snarked back.

* * *

Hope couldn’t believe her luck. But it was right. Hope had spent a lot of nights thinking about the anagram for her not to recognize it. Liz Annabeth Jemena Saltz was in reality Elizabeth Jenna Saltzman, thought Hope shaking her head because only Hope Mikaelson would have this bad luck of having been talking to a girl and she turn out to be the same one that stole her heart and left her naked in the beach.

“Josie, let me introduce you to my friend.” Penelope said looking at Hope for her to decide how to proceed from there. Hope knew Penelope’s wife already knew she was Andrea Labonair, but not Josie’s sister. And if Hope decided that she didn’t want her to know, it was her legal right and both Penelope and Josie couldn’t tell anyone. Hope thought about it as an idea came to her mind. She could continue the flirting game with Liz since she didn’t know. Her mind tried to argue that the same girl had once ran away without even giving an explanation, but Hope brushed the thought away. This time she wouldn’t escape. Hope would make sure of it.

“Hey, Josie. Penelope talks a lot about you. Mikaelson.” She said smiling at Josie. She watched the girl narrowing her eyes a bit. Hope was making her lie to her own sister.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. How do you even know Lizzie?” Josie asked curiously. Hope looked at the Lizzie in question. She was pretending Hope didn’t existed.

“We met at college.” Hope said only. Josie gasped and looked at Penelope.

“She’s Summer Vacation Girl.” Josie said to Penelope that widened her eyes and then looked at Lizzie.

“She’s the one?” Hope watched as Lizzie blushed so red that Hope thought it was an allergic reaction. Hope smirked.

“Summer Vacation Girl? That’s what you told them about me? Do they know what we’ve done back in that summer?” Hope should probably go to hell for making the other girl that embarrassed, but she was mad at her, excited too, but she was way angrier.

“They know what was worth mentioning. Most of it, however, are not interesting enough.” Lizzie said superior. How she could feel that superior after leaving Hope was a big interrogation mark for Hope. She was acting like she was the one in the right of being mad. They were already at the table and Hope waited for everyone to start to eat to talk.

“Did you tell them you left me naked by the beach?” Hope asked innocently making Lizzie blush. She was loving to see that the girl still blushed as easily as before. Josie looked at Lizzie with her eyebrows raised and Lizzie rolled her eyes.

“The beach in question was a private beach. She’s just being dramatic. The house was literally 20 feet away from where she was. I counted.” Lizzie said looking at Josie and Josie only. Josie nodded. They ate in silence until Josie gave Penelope a pointed look.

“So, Lizzie, how’s school?” Penelope asked and Josie gave her a disappointed look. Lizzie only looked at Penelope fuming.

“The university is fine.” Lizzie said.

“You´re still at university? I thought you were, like, clever.” Hope asked frowning.

“I’m doctoring.” Lizzie answered.

“Physics?”

“Yes.” Lizzie answered politely as if Hope was a stranger on the street asking about her life. “And you became an editor? I thought you were going to open an art gallery.” Lizzie looked at her and Hope could see the true curiosity she was trying to hide. Hope thought about it. She never told anyone, not even her family, but out of nowhere she felt the need to tell Lizzie.

“I did open an art gallery.” Hope said quietly and Penelope looked at her as if she had become a stranger. _Maybe she was_ , Hope thought. Lizzie had that effect on her. She had all those years ago when she made Hope become a romantic shithead. Lizzie looked at her with a soft smile until she masked it. Penelope, cursed may she be, decided to find her tongue.

“How come I never knew about it? If I knew it would only take you talking to Lizzie for five minutes to start spilling secrets, I would have locked you two in a room years ago.” Hope only glared at her. Penelope ignored.

“Fuck off, Penelope.” Lizzie said and Hope smiled because now Hope knew who Penelope always meant when she said she had people harder than Hope to deal with.

“Lizzie!” Josie hissed and Lizzie rolled her eyes. They ate the rest of the dinner in peaceful silence and Hope could notice Lizzie’s question practically written on her face. She didn’t answer, though, waiting for her to voice it.

“What’s your name, anyway?” Lizzie asked when she couldn’t hold herself anymore and Hope thought about lying, but she decided not to. Lizzie had no reason to suspect Hope Mikaelson and Andrea Labonair were the same person. And if she did, anyway, now Hope knew where to find her.

“Hope.” She watched closely as Lizzie didn’t show any sign of recognition.

“Josie, I forgot to tell you. Hope wanted you to find her a house very fast. One with playground, pool and garden.” Hope could feel Lizzie’s curiosity again.

“Why would you think that I would know how?” Josie asked curiously.

“Penelope said one day that you used to work with Wills and Possessions so I figured you could have a friend that could make it quickly. I'm willing to pay whatever is needed.”

“So, you do pay attention to what I say.” Penelope said sarcastically. Hope ignored her and focused on Josie.

“I’ll talk to one of them tomorrow and see what they can do.” Josie smiled at her. “If you don’t mind asking, why do you need a house this fast?”

“Her family decided to finally cut her liberty off.” Lizzie said smirking. Hope opened her mouth and then closed. Lizzie still remembered their talks.

“They are coming to visit me in three weeks.” Hope said, eyes on Lizzie’s. Then Penelope started to talk about her boss and Hope kept her mouth shut. She would glance at Lizzie sometimes. _Liar_. She had said she didn’t wear glasses in the email. Hope smiled. It was easy to forget that she had broken Hope’s heart. It was Hope’s fault, really, but Lizzie was the one to run away. The dinner finished and Hope decided it was time to go.

“Thank you for inviting me here, Josie and Penelope. It was really nice.” Hope said to them ignoring Lizzie.

“It was nice finally meeting you too, Hope.” Josie said.

“Bye, Saltzman.” She said on her way to the door.

“Mikaelson.” Lizzie said stopping Hope on her tracks. She looked at Lizzie and raised one eyebrow. “Did you ever get to finish that painting?” Lizzie asked softly, knowing what that meant to Hope. Hope nodded once and Lizzie smiled that beautiful smiled that she used to give Hope out of nowhere. Hope had to run away from this house as fast as possible.

As soon she got home, she opened the box. Inside there was a painting. She looked at it and smiled.

* * *

“I’m going to kill you, Penelope!” Lizzie exclaimed as soon as Hope left the house.

“Why? How could I know you fucked her?” Penelope asked.

“I can’t believe after all these years you found her out of a coincidence.” Josie exclaimed delighted.

“It wasn’t a coincidence, right, Penelope? You gave her my email!” Lizzie accused her.

“What email?” Josie asked innocently.

“Oh no, Jo. I love you so much, but I won’t take the blame alone. Lizzie, Josie was the one to tell me to give her your email.” Lizzie looked at the two waiting for them to realize they had just confirmed Lizzie’s suspicions that Hope was in fact Andrea Labonair. She waited a little more because they were simpletons. She watched with malicious pleasure as Penelope’s eyes widened and then Josie’s.

“Penelope, you just broke the contract about telling people Hope’s identity. You could very well be fired and go to jail.” Lizzie said faking worry. “You should be more careful, really.” Lizzie smiled at Penelope’s pissed face. “But don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.”

“Why not?” Penelope asked.

“Because she’s a good sister in law.” Josie answered and both Penelope and Lizzie huffed.

“Because you won’t tell Hope either. She thinks she has the upper hand of knowing who I am. I’ll show her.”

“How do you know she knows you’re Liz Saltz?”

“I really used to give you guys more credits. She found out it’s an anagram. She just has to _de-anagram_ it and she will realize it. And I’m pretty sure she realized it as soon as I told her my real name.”

“Why don’t you want her to know?”

“Oh, she’ll know. Just not now because none of you will tell her.” Lizzie said.

“Well, I won’t get in the middle of it. Can I just ask one question?” Penelope asked and Lizzie nodded. “What happened between you two?”

* * *

_It was the best night Lizzie had ever had. They ate ice cream, went to a late-night movie at the theater, they danced without music in the middle of the university square, they ate hamburgers sitting on the ground and talked about their fears and desires. It was the most romantic thing Lizzie had ever seen and they haven’t even kissed. She glanced at their hands, intertwined together, as they walked back to Lizzie’s dorm, the sun almost totally out._

_“Well, here we are. It was a pleasure to meet you, Saltzman.” Mikaelson said pompously. That gave Lizzie the courage to do what she did next. She held the other girl’s head and kissed her till they both were breathless, kissed her so long that the sun was already out, so long that it would last forever._

_“It was also a pleasure to meet you, Mikaelson.” She said smiling brightly. She turned around to enter her building when she felt the other girl holding her wrist._

_“I have an idea. Why don’t we extend this night till the end of the summer? We both have nothing to do anyway.” Mikaelson proposed and it was a crazy idea. One that only happened in movies and books. One that Lizzie would never accept if it wasn’t for that fact that she had only met this girl for one night and she was already totally in love with her._

_“What do you have in mind, Mikaelson?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to say what you thought about it and leave questions. I'm always happy to answer them.


	4. Beach House and Murder House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josie finds a house for Hope and they go visit it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, guys... I know that I'm chaotic. You can scream at me in the comments.
> 
> Since my new glasses finally arrived friday, I can write again without the headaches and I'll update soon again.

_“Where are you taking me?” The girl asked yawning. Hope thought that she looked very cute._

_“It’s a surprise.” Hope said._

_“Are you going to kill me and dump my body somewhere?” She asked worried. Well, she should’ve worried before entering the car with a stranger and falling asleep three minutes later._

_“I’m not going to kill you, but we’re definitely going to talk about you entering a stranger’s car without worrying about that first.” Hope said teasing and making the other girl frown._

_“You’re right. I should’ve paid attention to all the times my sister watched Criminal Minds.” She said serious and making Hope smile._

_“Well, too late. We’re here.” Hope said as she stopped the car by the huge gate just to put the password for it to open. She drove a little more and they finally got to the Beach House. Hope took a deep breath as she finally set eyes on it for the first time after her parents died._

_“It’s beautiful. I didn’t even know we were near the beach!” Exclaimed Saltzman excited._

_“Of course, you didn’t. You slept the whole way here.” Hope said frowning. “Now let’s see the place.” Hope said building her courage. They left the car and entered the house. It was just as beautiful as the last time she was here. She smiled as the memories started to flood her mind. She was so happy here. She avoided coming back thinking that she would only be sad, but being here, she realized that she just remembered the good things. She smiled at the girl that was staring at her. “It’s the first time I come here after my parents died.” And she didn’t know why she trusted the girl and told her that. But it felt right, and her chest felt lighter._

_“I’m happy. A place as beautiful as this shouldn’t be empty.” She said smiling and Hope’s breath was again kicked out of her. The girl was beautiful. Even more as the light of the sun hit her face and her hair flew with the wind. Hope let out her caught breath._

_“Let me show you around.” Hope said taking the girl’s hand. She had a feeling that this Summer would be amazing._

* * *

Lizzie debated about answering Hope’s last email a thousand times. She read it again two thousands times. Just like she was doing now.

_Liz,_

_I’m now curious about how you would dirty talk. You can’t say something like that and don’t present a proof. I thought you were a scientist and scientists must provide empirical proof ;)_

_You’re right. Andrea Labonair is family._

_Are we analyzing each other’s writing right now? I could point out that yours show a great pent up sexual urge. Am I right?_

_Still yours, Hope._

_Ps: just to talk?_

She had sent Lizzie the email just before that terrible dinner last night. It was finally time to answer it. If she waited too much, Hope would probably suspect that she knew the truth. Lizzie thought about what she was doing while writing her an answer. That Summer was amazing in more ways than it should. Lizzie was left heartbroken after it. How Hope could blame her, Lizzie didn’t know. She should stop talking to Hope and move on with her life without putting her heart back in the market for it to be broken again. But just like she couldn’t resist Hope six years ago, she couldn’t possibly resist her now. She pressed send.

_Hope,_

_Proof require experimentation and I didn’t experiment anything on you… yet._

_That raises a question, though. You already know that I’m a scientist when I’m not writing. What do you do when you’re not writing?_

_So, Andrea Labonair is really family. A grandma? Aunt? Or maybe a mom?_

_We’re not analyzing each other’s writing. I don’t even want to analyze the whole everyone-is-better-off-without-me complex that your protagonist has. Do you wanna talk about it?_

_Slightly yours,_

_LizZIE._

_Ps: maybe to watch movies too._

* * *

Hope read the email again and then again. _Lizzie had no idea it was her_ , she thought smiling. Hope had the upper hand in this situation. She waited to answer, of course. After reading it for the tenth time, she put her phone away and went back to her painting. Inspiration hit her hard this morning and she decided to canalize the energy into her art. She painted and painted and painted for what seemed like ages. She only stopped when she heard a sound behind her. Penelope.

“I feel like I don’t even know you, Hope. You paint now?” Penelope asked stunned.

“I do.” Hope answered rolling her eyes. “Since I was little. My dad used to paint with me.” Hope said smiling at the happy memories.

“And you’re talking about your family too?” Penelope came to her and touched Hope’s forehead. “Are you sure you’re not sick?” She asked worried and Hope rolled her eyes again. She didn’t have it in her to shut Penelope off today, though. She was in a good mood. A damned good one that should probably worry her but the only thing that it was actually doing was making her chatty.

“My mom loved watching us paint. She used to take a lot of pictures and fill a hundred photo albums with it. I used to complain about it non-stop.” Hope said laughing. She looked at Penelope, who was looking at her softly.

“Maybe I could see those pictures someday?”

“You’ll probably will. My family will visit me, and they’ll probably show you and Josie a lot of embarrassing childhood pictures and videos of me.” Hope said lightly. “What are you doing here anyway? You don’t even knock anymore.” Hope said teasing.

“Okay, your good mood is totally unsettling.” Penelope said frowning. “I’m here to take you to see a house I think you’ll like it.”

“Already?” Hope asked surprised. She had just asked Josie to look for it for her yesterday.

“Yeah. Apparently, my wife’s client is an asshole and he’s trying to get rid of his house because his wife murdered her paramour in there.”

“Wow, that’s interesting. Can we go now?” Hope said excited.

“Did you hear the part where I said it is a murder house?”

“Yeah.” Said Hope smiling to annoy Penelope.

“Okay. We can go now. Josie will meet us there.” Penelope said.

* * *

“What are you going to do today?” Lizzie asked her sister. She had slept in hers and Penelope’s house last night.

“I have to work. I thought you were going to the lab today.” Josie said putting on her dress and raising one eyebrow to Lizzie.

“Today is Saturday.” Lizzie said casually.

“That never stopped you before.” Josie said turning around for Lizzie to close the zipper.

“Why do you want me to go to the lab?” Lizzie asked frowning. Then her eyes widened. “You’re meeting Hope today.” Lizzie said snapping her fingers in realization. “You’re going to sell her Murder House!” Lizzie exclaimed.

“I really wanted to study your brain someday to see how you make associations so fast.” Josie said sighing.

“I’m a genius, you already knew that.” Lizzie said and Josie rolled her eyes. “Can I go?”

“Why would you want to? I don’t think Hope wants to see the person that left her, and I quote her, ‘naked by the beach’.” Josie said sarcastically. “I also wouldn’t imagine why you would want to go. I remember you crying all the way to Switzerland because of her.” Josie remembered her.

“Thank you for bringing it back.” Lizzie said rolling her eyes. “I also remember you spending the last six years trying to get me to look for her.” Lizzie pointed out.

“Touché.” Josie said nodding. “You can come.”

“Thank you, sis.” Lizzie said kissing Josie’s cheek and leaving her bedroom and going to hers to put some clothes. Unfortunately, Lizzie’s closet in Josie’s house only had some comfortable clothes. Clothes Lizzie would use at home or in the lab. She chose the best one and put it on. When she entered Josie’s car to go to Murder House, Josie looked at her.

“I’m still waiting for the explanation of what happened in that Summer, Lizzie. You never told me the whole story.”

“I don’t think I know the whole story either, Jo.” Lizzie said remembering Hope’s face when she saw Lizzie the first time after all those years. She didn’t look like someone that had broken Lizzie’s heart. She looked like the one with the broken heart. Lizzie found it weird. Hope didn’t seem like someone that would blame Lizzie if she were the one responsible for it. Lizzie would have to dig on that. And she would find answers.

“What do you mean?” Josie asked.

“I don’t know but I’m going to find out. Now tell me more about Murder House.”

* * *

“When is Josie coming?”

“You just asked me that 30 seconds ago.” Penelope said and Hope huffed in boredom. They were waiting for ages.

“I’m just curious about the house.” Hope said as Josie’s car parked next to Penelope’s. They left the car. “Hey, Josie.” Hope said excited when Josie left her car. What left her less excited, though, was the next person that left the car. “What is she doing here?”

“Exerting my right as human being to walk around free?” Lizzie said sarcastically.

“Be nice.” Josie hissed at her. At Hope, however, she said. “She’s been asking me to bring her here ever since the murder happened.”

“Oh, yeah. Just like that other time that she annoyed our asses to take her to that haunted hospital.” Penelope said.

“It wasn’t haunted.” Hope and Lizzie said at the same time. Penelope raised one eyebrow.

“I went to that hospital too.” Hope said and Penelope rolled her eyes.

“Well, I think it was haunted.” Josie said and Lizzie rolled her eyes.

“Can we get in?”

They went back to the cars and Josie led them into the huge mansion. It was beautiful, Hope had to agree, even though it was an old beauty, like those old noble houses. Hope loved it without even going inside. It looked like the type of house her dad would love and her mom would complain that it was too much. When they finally parked in front of the front door, Josie looked at Hope.

“If you decide to keep the house, the owner will gladly accept any fitting value that you decide to pay.” Hope nodded and entered the house. Lizzie was excitedly whispering to Josie and Penelope about how creepy the murder was, and Hope smiled softly. She remembered how eager for information and curious Lizzie was. Hope paid attention to all the details Josie told about the house and the property. The house was perfect for Hope. It had two pools, a garden, a place where she could build a playground, a lot of bedrooms and common areas. Hope would definitely keep the house. When she was about to look for Josie in one of the rooms, she looked at her phone and opened the email that she had received earlier. She read it again smiling.

_Hope,_

_Proof require experimentation and I didn’t experiment anything on you… yet._

_That raises a question, though. You already know that I’m a scientist when I’m not writing. What do you do when you’re not writing?_

_So, Andrea Labonair is really family. A grandma? Aunt? Or maybe a mom?_

_We’re not analyzing each other’s writing. I don’t even want to analyze the whole everyone-is-better-off-without-me complex that your protagonist has. Do you wanna talk about it?_

_Slightly yours,_

_LizZIE._

_Ps: maybe to watch movies too._

Hope smirked and started answering it. She wouldn’t wait this time. She typed the reply fast.

_Liz (I’ll keep calling you Liz),_

_What are you going to experiment on me first then? ;)_

_When I’m not writing I do art._

_Good try but I won’t answer you that_

_My protagonist is a complex woman. A hero and a strong person that defied wrongdoing and fought for the weak. She’s perfect… thank you very much._

_Slightly is a little more than your last email so I’ll take it._

_TOTALLY yours,_

_Hope._

_Ps: scary movies maybe?_

As soon as she sent the email, she heard a ding song behind her and she looked around to find Lizzie and Josie there.

“Oh, hey. I’m keeping the house. It’s perfect. One last thing, though, where did the murder happen?” Hope asked and Josie rolled her eyes.

“Really, what’s the problem with the two of you? Lizzie was just asking me the same thing.” Josie said and Lizzie blushed. Hope smirked at Lizzie as Josie led them downstairs. She opened a door and there were more stairs.

“A basement?” Lizzie and Hope said excited at the same time.

“A movie room.” Josie said rolling her eyes again at them.

“I swear their mind just go creepy all the time.” Penelope said to Josie.

The movie room looked like a mini cinema. It had a big screen, comfortable chairs, and a popcorn machine. It was really cool, but something was off.

“They didn’t find the body, huh?” Lizzie asked casually. Hope narrowed her eyes at her.

“No. Only a huge amount of blood, some teeth and a finger. The crazy woman probably burned the body.”

“No, she didn’t.” Hope said, the pieces of the real crime coming to her as if it was one of her books. Lizzie looked at her and Hope recognized that _thinking face_ she had on.

“Exactly.” Lizzie agreed. Josie rolled her eyes.

“Maybe she dumped the body in a river or something. We’ll never know, really. The thing is that she killed him, got rid of the body, came back to the house, and then died of a preexisting breathing disease. The only thing we know is that the servants in the house heard screams from inside this room but when the police came in, she was already dead. No one knows how she did it.” Josie said frowning at the crazy smile on Hope’s face. Then she looked at her sister and saw the same maniac smile. “What?”

“Oh, no.” Penelope grunted. “What now?”

“I know why they didn’t find the body.” Lizzie started.

“And why she died.” Hope completed. She looked at Lizzie and Lizzie smiled at her; the connection they felt all those years ago hitting hard now.

“She was the victim.” Lizzie and Hope said at the same time as the lights turned off and a locking sound clicked loud in the silence of the room.

* * *

_“When are you going to kiss me?” Saltzman asked her one day when they were watching the sunrise by the beach. Hope choked on her coffee. She looked at the pouting girl._

_“Why?” Hope asked smiling._

_“Well, I kissed you one week ago and then you brought me here to this super romantic beach house escapade and you haven’t kissed me yet.” She said frowning._

_“I was being romantic. Taking you sailing, watching scary movies, teasing your nerd tastes. I thought you liked it.” She said feigning hurt. The other girl rolled her eyes._

_“I would like it more if you were kissing me while doing all those things.” She said making Hope laugh. She looked at the girl and smiled softly._

_“Do you want me to kiss you right now?” She asked softly._

_“Not right now. It won’t be surprising. You can wait till I’m not expecting it and then you can-” Hope closed the distance and kissed her not waiting for her to finish the sentence. Her lips were soft and tasted like the strawberries she had just ate for breakfast. She also tasted something entirely new to Hope, something that could make her addicted amazingly fast._

_“How is that for a surprise?” Hope said smirking when she broke the kiss. The other girl was blushed and with a silly smile._

_“A B+. You can try an A next time, Mikaelson.” She said smiling smugly and then standing up and going back to the house. Hope gasped at the girl’s nerve to grade Hope. She shot up and went after the other girl._

_“Oh, Saltzman, you’re going to regret this.” She screamed at the other girl’s teasing smile. Hope would show her, Hope thought grinning._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I had no idea where this story was going. Please don't leave me.


	5. The Truths and The Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope and Lizzie explain some things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I never know what to expect when I start to write. Sometimes I have an initial idea but somewhere along the way I change it a bit. Sometimes things get WILD, to say the least. 
> 
> Things got a bit CHAOTIC and WILD here. Let me know what you think in the comments.

_“What’s today’s surprise, Mikaelson?” Lizzie asked curious._

_“Well, it’s a surprise so you’ll have to wait.” Mikaelson said also smiling. Lizzie had been pestering her since she had said that she would take Lizzie in a surprise date later today. Lizzie wasn’t good with patience. A personality trait she would have to change, according to her professor, because scientists rely on their patience to get things done._

_“Can’t you give me a hint?” Lizzie asked pouting._

_“I can” Started Mikaelson and Lizzie opened a big smile. “but I won’t.” Lizzie’s smile dropped._

_“I hate you.”_

_“No, you don’t.”_ _No, Lizzie didn’t but she could pretend. After Mikaelson finally finished one of her paints, she went to get ready. Lizzie was already ready to go. Mikaelson drove them to the closest city to the Beach House. It wasn’t big but it had a lot of things, especially during Summer Vacation, Mikaelson had said. It had a lot of activities to entertain the young and rich. Mikaelson was both. They parked the car in front of what looked like an abandoned building. Lizzie frowned and looked at the other girl._

_“Why are we here?” Lizzie asked suspiciously. The other girl only raised an eyebrow daring Lizzie to enter it with her. Lizzie went, of course, she wasn’t one to back down and she was also super intrigued. They entered the building and it was like walking through a portal. If the outside looked like an abandoned building, the inside looked like it was right out of a rich people’s hospital. It had white walls and white furniture; everything so bright that hurt the eyes; and a comforting song was playing. Lizzie looked around to find Mikaelson smiling. She opened her mouth to ask her what all of this was about when the door from where they had just came through closed, the comforting song stopped and all the lights turned off being exchanged by low red lights that gave the room an appearance of a horror movie. Lizzie’s confused face disappeared giving place to a huge smile. She looked back at Hope. “It’s an Escape Room.”_

* * *

Lizzie heard Josie’s sharp intake of breath first. Then Penelope’s _“What the fuck?”._

“I think I just locked us in here.” Lizzie said. _She wouldn’t have done it if Hope weren’t here_ , Lizzie pondered. If Hope weren’t here Lizzie would have the clarity of mind of the analytical person that she was. But Hope was there and Lizzie tried to impress her and she didn’t think that the light would shut down too. She couldn’t see anything, the room was pit black, but _she felt_ her sister tilting her head at Lizzie.

“What do you mean with locking us in here?” Josie said controlled.

“A panic room.” Hope answered for Lizzie. Lizzie nodded realizing too late that they couldn’t see it.

“Yes.” Said Lizzie turning on the lantern in her cellphone. She used it to look for a light switch. When she found it, she turned on the lights to find Josie red with anger. Lizzie gulped. “I can explain.”

“Well, you better do.” Josie said breathing loudly. Then she looked at Hope. “You too.” Hope’s eyes widened.

“It’s not my fault.” Hope said defensively and then looked at Penelope for help. Penelope, however, as Josie’s ass kisser just shrugged at Hope as if saying _there’s nothing I can do for you_. Lizzie rolled her eyes at her.

“There’s no need to worry.” Lizzie reassured her sister. “It’s a panic room. It’s meant to protect the people inside. I accidentally locked it so we just have to find the switch to open up again.” Lizzie said confident. Josie, now calmer, nodded. She sat on one of the chairs and pointed the others to sit.

“You first, Lizzie. Explain.” Josie said narrowing her eyes at Lizzie.

“You do know I love mysteries.” Lizzie started and Josie only tilted her head. Penelope was having the time of her life if her glinting eyes meant something. Lizzie glared at her before continuing. “So when I first heard about the case, I knew you would be called as a lawyer. You’re in the five best of the city list. And you’re the only woman in that list. The guy was rich enough to want the best so he would definitely choose one of the five best. We both know the statistics says that a female law firm partners are 12% more likely to win in court than their male counterparts. It was only logical that he would go to Saltzman’s and Chang’s Law Firm.”

“Well, Alyssa could have taken the case.” Josie said frowning.

“Oh no, last years you had an 92,9% success in the defense cases while Alyssa only had 76%. In accusations cases, though, Alyssa was 23,8% in front of you. It was clear that you would be the one to defend him.” Lizzie stated sure. Josie glared at her.

“Those were the first thoughts you had when you heard about the case?” She asked slowly. Lizzie heard Hope chuckling and gave her a look. Then she looked back at her sister.

“Yes, so I knew you would get the case. It was about eight months ago. After it happened, the wife was declared guilty because all evidence appointed to her. She was dead and had no way of defending herself. Last month the police finally closed the case and you brought the files home to give it a last look before archiving it.”

“I never told you I brought it home.” Josie said narrowing her eyes.

“It was the same night Lizzie gave us that romantic dinner at that restaurant we had been trying to get reservations for months.” Penelope said with a hint of respect in her voice. “She totally tricked us into going so she could stay at the house and read the files.”

“It is a crime, Lizzie!” Josie shouted exasperated. “How do you even know the password for my lock?” Josie asked.

“It’s a digital lock. You do know that I’m good with computers. It was easy to hack into it.” Lizzie said a bit ashamed. Josie opened her mouth to scream at Lizzie, but Lizzie stopped her. “You should really thank me. After I hacked into it, I reinforced the cryptography. Now your data is safer than CIA’s.” Lizzie said smiling and Josie narrowed her eyes at her.

“I’ll talk to you later. Now, what does all of it has to do with the fact that you think his wife was the victim?” Josie asked.

“When I read the file, I found all of it very suspicious. The finger was severed from the body while the person was still alive. Also the teeth. The way they were broken didn’t look like an object hitting a person’s mouth like the report said. It looked more like someone put the _already taken out_ teeth in the floor and hit it with something. Something just didn’t add up. I wanted to come here since the crime happened, but after I read the files I just needed to come here and see it for myself. The whole investigation was based on circumstantial evidence.”

“As most crimes are, Lizzie. Well, the police considered it enough.” Josie said tired. She, then, looked at Hope, that had been weirdly quiet. “Start to talk. How did you get to the same conclusion Lizzie did? I don’t suppose you also broke somewhere to steal the files.” Josie said sarcastic.

“Of course I didn’t break into places.” Hope said rolling her eyes. “I paid someone to.” She said a few seconds later in a low voice. Lizzie watched as Josie’s face became so red that Lizzie thought it would explode.

“Oh my god, I’m surrounded by criminals.” She shouted horrified. Then she looked at Penelope. “How do you handle them? You work with them on regular basis.” Josie asked Penelope with a pitying face.

“That’s why I like sex so much. It makes me forget it for some time.” She said with a sad puppy face at Josie. Hope and Lizzie huffed at the same time.

“Tell me from the start, Hope.” Josie said.

“About eight months ago, I was wri- reading a book about a murder.” Hope started. Lizzie noticed her mistake, though. She was about to say that she was writing a book, but she stopped herself because she thought that Lizzie didn’t know her pseudonym, Andrea Labonair. “I was trying to see if the way the writer made it happen could really happen in real life. I was reading recent police reports with victims that died of lung diseases, breathing problems, any kind of respiratory sickness. It was when I bumped into the DeLuces’ case. As I was reading the information released to the public by the police, I had a feeling that something was off but since I didn’t have a way to find out, I let it go and continued studying other cases. When they finally closed the case without a good explanation to it, though, I knew I had to give it one more look.” She looked at Lizzie then. Lizzie remembered, from that Summer, how she couldn’t put something down if she didn’t have the answer. She was just like Lizzie in this aspect.

“What did you do then?” Josie asked.

“I paid someone to hack into the police’s system. When I read the file, my doubts only increased. Like Lizzie, I found it weird the details about the finger, the teeth and the amount of blood.” Hope said looking at Lizzie now. “What stuck with me, though, was the forensic analysis of the teeth.” Hope told Lizzie.

“No, it can’t be right. There wasn’t any forensic dentistry analysis in my sister’s files.” Lizzie said frowning. “They didn’t even test the wife for more sophisticated substances after she died. They only did the usual screen tests.” Lizzie said and Hope smiled at her. They were really thinking the same thing.

“I had someone stealing one tooth.” Hope said smug and Josie gulped.

“You stole evidence, Hope?” Josie whispered as if there were people around them that could listen. “You could go to jail.”

“Oh no, I already put it back.”

“How did you do it?” Josie asked, then “You know what? Don’t tell me. I don’t wanna know.”

“I do.” Lizzie exclaimed excited. Josie glared at her.

“You two can talk about it in prison.” She said slowly. “What did the tooth analysis say?” Josie asked curious, nonetheless. Hope smiled.

“That the tooth belonged to an approximately 20 years old someone of mixed races, born and raised in south Asia, probably India.” Hope said looking pointedly at Lizzie, knowing she would follow her cue.

“One of the five biggest producers of Castor Beans.” Lizzie said, eyes widening.

“And where Mr. DeLuce has a scientific research center.” Hope added.

“And where he spent 2 years studying about 20 years ago.” Lizzie finished understanding where Hope was trying to get. “But how did the police not know? They would realize they were father and son.” Lizzie wondered out loud.

“Okay, stop now. Lizzie, open the door and let’s go home.” Josie said resolute, something like disguised fear in her voice. Lizzie, however, didn’t notice, so caught up in the mystery in front of her. She had worked with other mysteries before and this one was a good one.

“Bone Marrow.” Lizzie shouted after a while. “Oh my god, what are the odds?” Lizzie said stunned. Hope was also as impressed as her.

“Very little.” Hope said. The two were now pacing around, their minds brainstorming ideas. They didn’t see the look that passed between Josie and Penelope.

“I think we better go, Hope.” Penelope tried but Hope ignored. Penelope looked at Josie shaking her head. Josie brought her fingers to her temples and huffed loudly. This time she got Hope and Lizzie’s attention.

“If you two were just a little bit less nosy.” Josie started closing her eyes. “I mean- when I brought you here I knew you two would have some ideas. That’s why I brought you here in the first place. But you two broke the law in so many levels.” She exclaimed looking at them. “What’s the problem with you two? When people like mysteries, they read Nancy Drew or Agatha Christie. They don’t go about breaking laws and stealing police confidential files.” She sighed. “Tell me the rest of your conclusions.” Josie said.

“Don’t tell her anything.” Penelope said standing up and going to Lizzie and Hope.

“Shut up, Penelope.” Josie snapped at her wife, then she smiled sweetly. “Stay out of it, Penny.”

“What’s happening?” Lizzie asked confused. Josie looked at her.

“I just wanna know the truth.” Josie said at Lizzie, that nodded at her sister.

“She was poisoned. Ricin.” Hope said.

“If inhaled, it causes malfunction of the lungs. Added to her breathing problems… it probably killed her fast." Lizzie added.

“And the people that said that they heard screaming from here?” Hope said looking around at the room. “They were lying. This room has acoustic isolation. I don’t know how the police didn’t put it in the files.” Hope said frowning. Lizzie frowned too. There were a lot of loose ends. Her sister was the lawyer in this case. How didn’t she notice all of this? She looked at Josie and Penelope. They were acting weird.

“Don’t do this, Josie.” Penelope said grunting.

“You know I have to.” Josie shouted at Penelope. Lizzie’s frown deepened. Something was definitely off.

“If you do it, I’ll have to lie for you.” Hope looked at Lizzie and raised her eyebrow. Lizzie shrugged. She didn’t know what was happening. She looked back at the couple.

“Shit.” Penelope hissed. Josie smiled at her. Then they came closer. Josie to Lizzie and Penelope to Hope. _It was suspicious_ , Lizzie’s analytical mind was screaming at her. But it was her sister, Lizzie thought. It was just Josie. Lizzie should’ve listened to her mind, though, cause the next thing she felt was a sting in her neck. Just before her eyes closed, she looked at Hope and watched as her body fell to the ground. The last look they shared before Lizzie’s eyes finally closed was one that they knew already too well; one that they, as writers, had written a few times. It was the look the protagonist have when they’re betrayed by their closest friends. The last thing Lizzie heard was Josie’s calm voice.

“Now, Penelope, you help me hide it.”

* * *

_“It was amazing!” Saltzman exclaimed excited. Hope smiled at her._

_“I know.” Hope said back. “I knew you would love it.”_

_“Can we do it again tomorrow?” The other girl said like a child asking for more ice cream._

_“We can do it as many times as you want. They have 5 different escape rooms.” Hope said and watched Saltzman’s face light up at the news._

_“This is the best Summer ever.” She said grinning. Hope was already in love, that much was clear to her. They had been together at the Beach House for four weeks now. Hope had been paying attention on the other girl. She was funny, sarcastic and clever. Hope knew she would love the Escape Room. Hope loved it since she was a little girl. Every time her family traveled to the Beach House they would go to the city to play it. It was almost a family tradition. Hope hadn’t been able to go again since her parent’s death but with Saltzman here she felt like she could do everything again. And the amazed look on the girl’s face was reward enough to Hope. She listened to her babbling all the way back to the House. When they got there, Hope said that she would go to the kitchen to make pop corn so they could relax watching a movie. When she went to the living room, though, Saltzman was already sleeping on the couch. Hope smiled. They had been at the Escape Room for three hours. She was tired. She sat next to her on the couch and started to eat the pop corn while looking for a movie to watch when she felt the girl’s head falling on Hope’s lap. She grinned fondly and adjusted their position. It was perfect. Hope couldn’t believe she had met this girl only four weeks ago in an end of term party. It was crazy, Hope thought laughing. Something bookly. Everything about it looked like out of a romance book. The way they met, this romantic trip, the fact that they haven’t exchanged names yet. They were living in a little bubble and Hope loved it. She only hoped that by the end of the Summer this dream could be continue in real life. It was her only wish._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I WILL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING.
> 
> I usually overexplain things because I feel the need to know that everyone got it, so I will. 
> 
> Pls tell me your thoughts.


	6. Switzerland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josie explains everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is LONG long. It had to be this way because I needed to explain. I really hope you like it. I'm crying here for you to like it.

“Come on, Penelope. Let’s not leave blood behind.” Josie said softly.

“Oh, sorry. Next time we knock people out I’ll be sure to put a plastic on the ground before the bodies drop, honey.” Penelope said also softly. Josie frowned.

“Yeah, you’re right. We should’ve placed a plastic on the ground first.” Josie said and Penelope rolled her eyes.

“I was kidding.” Penelope said chuckling. After they finished putting Hope and Lizzie in the car, Josie looked at Penelope.

“You go take your car back to our house, then take an uber to out breakfast place and buy those croissants they love. I’ll meet you there so we can take them to the _Forest_.” Josie said kissing Penelope and entering the car, her head was already pounding with the headache she knew was coming.

* * *

Hope Mikaelson woke up with her head hurting. She touched her temple just to find a bandage there. She looked around and her eyes found Lizzie sleeping on the bed next to her. She immediately remembered what happened right before Penelope injected Hope with something that made her sleep _. What the hell had happened?_ She tried to stand up but she was a bit groggy and she lost balance and fell over Lizzie. The other girl murmured and stirred lazily on the bed. After a few seconds, however, she opened her eyes fast and looked at Hope worried.

“What the hell just happened?” Lizzie asked standing up fast and also realizing that she was a bit tipsy.

“Well, Lizzie, you tell me. Your _family_ just drugged and abducted us.” Hope said emphasizing the word family and proceeding to look around. It was a normal bedroom, Hope noticed. When she looked back at Lizzie she was frowning worried.

“Why would they do that?” She whispered betrayed and Hope fought the instinct of reaching for Lizzie’s hand.

“I don’t know.” Hope answered softly. When she was about to stand up and go to the door to see if it was open, the door opened and Josie and Penelope entered the bedroom.

“What the fuck?” Hope screamed.

“Please, Hope, keep your voice down. My wife has a terrible headache right now.” Penelope said softly and it was so absurd that Hope didn’t know what to say next. Lizzie, however, didn’t share Hope’s surprise.

“Go to hell, Penelope.” She said. Then she looked at Josie. “Well, explain.” Lizzie said coldly and Hope knew she was pretending. She could see it in how Lizzie’s hand was trembling on the bed next to Hope’s. This time Hope didn’t fight to stay away. She moved her hand subtly and grabbed Lizzie’s and felt the other girl relaxing instantly. Hope watched as Josie took a deep breath and looked at Hope and then at Lizzie.

“It all started because you were too smart.”

* * *

**8 MONTHS AGO**

Josie was sleeping peacefully when she heard her phone ringing. Still sleepy, she tried to reach for her phone on the nightstand. When she finally found it, though, she realized it wasn’t really ringing. She frowned. If it wasn’t her phone, it was probably Penelope’s. She turned on the bed to look at her wife.

“It’s not my phone.” Penelope said watching Josie’s confused face. Josie looked again at her phone when the ringing started again. Her eyes widened when she realized where it was coming from. She jumped out of bed and opened the hidden compartment in the back of her nightstand. She took the phone and looked at the _confidential number_ written on the screen before answering.

“What?” Josie answered worried. The first time she answered to a call like this was because her sister was across the Atlantic ocean, trapped in a room with only three hours to find an equation that would save the lives of more than 300 million people.

“Hello, Saltzman. I have a job for you.” The voice said from the other side. It was a woman’s voice, cold and sure, the same from all the times.

“What do you want this time?”

“You’re going to receive a call tomorrow morning from Mr. DeLuce. He’ll need you to prove him innocent of the crime of killing his wife and her lover. I’ll send you everything I have about it and about him. He’s guilty but you’ll find a way to make him innocent.” The woman said.

“How am I going to do this?” Josie asked perplexed. She would have to lie under oath and god knows what more.

“I don’t care. Just don’t let anything happen to him. He’s part of an investigation that’s been going on for years now and we can’t lose him now. This is the first time we have an opportunity of putting someone in and you’re up for the job.”

“Why he’s so important?”

“You’ll read in the files I’m sending you. Don’t let him suspect of you.” She said finishing the call. A few seconds later, she received a file. She opened it and started to read. After she finished it, she fell to ground shocked. On the top of the file was written:

**ACUSATION: INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM**

Josie did not sleep for the rest of the night. Penelope tried to talk to her but Josie didn’t have the disposition for it. Her mind was racing with all the new information. When Josie went downstairs to grab breakfast, Lizzie was in the kitchen. Josie’s heart skipped a beat with worry. She tried to scold her reaction.

“Hey, Lizzie, what are you doing here?” She asked casually.

“Have you heard about the DeLuces?” Lizzie asked excited and it took almost all of Josie’s powers not to start to scream and cry.

“Yeah, I heard. It’s terrible what happened.” She said while pouring coffee in her mug.

“Totally. If you hear something about it that the police is not telling the public, can you let me know please?” Lizzie asked apparently not noticing Josie’s sweat.

“Why would you think that I would know something?”

“Well, you’re a criminal lawyer, you’ll probably hear something.” Lizzie said frowning. Josie nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll let you know.” Josie said and her sister smiled and kissed her cheek.

“Now, I have to go. I just stopped by to pick up the book that I forgot here last week. You won’t believe who called me again just this morning.” Lizzie said excited and Josie’s breath caught. _Please don’t be her. Please don’t be her._ Josie prayed.

“That Swiss Lab that I spent months doing research on. They sent me some equations to solve again.” Lizzie exclaimed happy. Josie faked a smile.

“That’s great, Lizzie. They’re always sending you equations to solve. It’s not even your field, right?” Josie tried to sound casual. Lizzie frowned.

“I think it’s weird too. But I like to solve problems so I always accept it.” Not that she could deny it, thought Josie bitter. Her sister didn’t know, but if Lizzie ever said _no_ she would be in huge trouble.

“I get it. It’s like a hobby. Just solve it and send them the solutions.” Josie said lightly. Her sister nodded and left the house. As soon as Lizzie closed the door, Josie heard Penelope from behind her.

“I don’t think it’s fair that Lizzie has been doing this for the past 8 years without knowing.” Josie sighed.

“I don’t think it’s fair that they’re asking her to do it in the first place.” Josie said angry. “Not at all.” She said again and Penelope only nodded.

“If she ever finds out…” Penelope started.

“Don’t. She can’t.” It was Penelope’s turn to sigh this time.

“What did they ask you to do this time?” Penelope said hugging Josie from the behind.

“Defend a murderer.” Josie said with a pained face. Penelope chuckled.

“Well, it’s not like it’s the first time.” She said kissing Josie’s temple and going to the kitchen to eat. Josie followed her. “What got you all worked out with this one then?” Penelope said picking up a pan.

“He’s the one.” Josie said quietly making Penelope turn around slowly to face her, all blood draining from her face.

“The one that-”

“Yes.” Josie said staring at the ground and a second later she felt Penelope’s arms enveloping her.

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.” Penelope whispered and Josie finally cried.

* * *

“Hey, Jo.” Penelope said to Josie, taking her attention from the book. “Hope asked me Lizzie’s email today.”

“Really?” Josie asked surprise dropping her book immediately.

“Yeah. She reads all of Lizzie’s books. She probably wants to fangirl over her. Between us, Hope seems like a monster but she’s really just a big baby.” Penelope said smiling.

“Lizzie also can’t stop talking about her.” Josie said smiling softly. Her sister had been pestering her to read Andrea Labonair’s books for ages. “Give her Lizzie’s email. God knows Lizzie needs a friend. She only writes books and solve equations. I don’t think it’s healthy.” Josie said frowning. “Maybe the two start talking and fall in love with each other.” She said smirking.

“So we’re matchmaking now?” Penelope said excitedly. “They’re both bitches so they’ll love each other instantly.”

“Lizzie’s not a bitch.” Josie exclaimed hitting her wife with the pillow. “She has a strong personality, that’s all.” Josie tried and rolled her eyes when Penelope only huffed in disbelief.

* * *

**LESS THAN ONE MONTH AGO**

“Hope committed a crime.” Penelope said bursting through Josie’s office door. Josie opened her mouth to ask what when Penelope let a file fall on the table in front of Josie and then threw herself on the chair. Josie started to read the exchange of emails between Hope and some guy.

“She paid someone to hack into the police’s files?” Josie wondered out loud frowning.

“Keep reading.” Penelope said eating some peanuts relaxed. Josie kept reading until she gasped.

“The DeLuce’s case? Why is she digging into it?” Josie asked, her heart on an unhealthy rate.

“I have no idea.”

“Is she talking to Lizzie?” Josie asked worried.

“No. I checked if they were emailing each other when I found out that Hope was digging where she shouldn’t.” Penelope said and Josie nodded. At least she didn’t need to worry about that.

“Why do you think she’s digging on it?”

“Honestly? Curiosity. Hope’s like that.” Penelope said simply.

“So you don’t think she has an agenda?”

“No.” Penelope said sure.

“And the hacker?” Josie asked, calmer now. She trusted Penelope’s assessment.

“He’s a cop.” Penelope said giving Josie another file. “Not a dirty one. It’s his first slip.” Josie read it and then nodded again.

“Where’s him?” She raised an eyebrow to Penelope.

“Why do you assume that I know?” Penelope asked and Josie only gave her a face that said it all. Penelope buffed. “In my trunk. I was thinking about sending him away.”

“I want to talk to him first. Let’s take him to the _Forest_ and have a talk.” Josie said smirking when Penelope jumped out of the chair.

“I love to take people to the _Forest_ and have a talk.” She said excited as Alyssa entered the office.

“I want to have a talk with people in the _Forest_ too.” She said pouting.

“Fuck off.” Penelope said aggressively and Alyssa smiled.

“Ow, you’re still angry that I took you to the _Forest_ for a talk?” Alyssa said laughing and Josie rolled her eyes at them.

“What do you want, Alyssa?” Josie asked.

“Can you give me your _digitalis_ vial? Mine’s over and I need to kill someone tonight.” Alyssa said so casually that Josie only blinked. She knew Alyssa since university and she had yet to get used to her lack of tact. Alyssa seemed to realize what Josie was thinking because she rolled her eyes. “Really? How do you want me to say it? _Can you, please, give me your magic liquid so I can make a tea that it’ll send someone to an eternal sleep?”_ She said sarcastic. Josie sighed.

“You’re terrible, Alyssa.” Josie said writing an address on a piece of paper. “Here. It’s one of my storages. You won’t need a key. Just say to whoever is there that _you need something to your headache_. They’ll show it to you. Don’t take my _banded krait venom_. I only have one dose and I’m still trying to come up with a good excuse to make Lizzie synthesize something with the same effect.” Josie said. She had no idea how she would do it. She couldn’t just go to Lizzie and say _hey, sis, can you take this highly dangerous venom to your lab and create a cheaper, easier to acquire version of it so I can use it to torture people?_

“How did you find one of those? It’s perfect to cause paralysis. It’s so funny the face they make when they can’t move and they know they’re about to die.” Alyssa exclaimed as if she were talking about ice cream flavors. Josie only dismissed her and left the office with Penelope. They went to Penelope’s car and drove to the _Forest_. The _Forest_ was actually a sweet little cottage in the middle of the woods. It seemed innocent enough that the only reason people would give it a second look was because it was cute. Inside of it looked normal too. The only thing that wasn’t normal about it was the _apparently old_ wardrobe in the basement that led to an underground facility with weapons, cells, a lab, bedrooms and even a morgue. They took the sleeping man to one of the _black rooms_ ; they were perfect to scare the shit out of people. Josie injected him with something to make him wake up fast and left the room. She and Penelope went to the kitchen and prepared something to eat and went to the TV room to watch a movie. When they finished, they finally went to talk to the guy; already terrified by now after waking up in a totally dark room and starving since the drug Josie used had that effect. She burst into the room and turned on the lights.

“I’m so glad you’re awake.” She said softly smiling at the guy. “Tell me why you’re here.” Josie said and sat on one of the chairs eating some chips.

“I don’t know why I’m here. I’m sorry.” He said desperate.

“I hate the ones that cry.” Penelope said bored noticing the tears on the man’s face.

“Please let me go.” The man cried. Josie looked at Penelope and nodded. The other opened a file and started to read out loud.

“I can do it for $20.000 in cash. I’ll give you the information as soon as you give me the half of the value.” Penelope read and then looked at him with an unbothered gaze. “This is the last email you sent before you broke the law by selling police confidential information.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to. My wife is pregnant and-” The man started and Josie interrupted him.

“Oh, I know. Twins, right?” Josie exclaimed excited. “I’m a twin too. It’s amazing. We used to drive dad crazy.” She said sweetly and then Penelope looked at her.

“What a luck person to grow up with a father, right?” Penelope asked.

“Please don’t kill me.” The man repeated now, all blood leaving his face when he understood Penelope’s words.

“Tell me what else you know about this person. This is your last chance. Try not to cry while doing it.” Josie said simply.

“I don’t know nothing, I swear. They just paid me to hack into the police’s system and look for a file. They didn’t know that I was a cop and didn’t need to hack into anything. After a few days they called me again and asked me if I could hack into it again and find out where the evidence of the case were being kept. Coincidently, it was on my department so I asked them why and if they needed something. They said they needed someone to steal a tooth, scrape the inside of it with a knife and put it in a flask with alcohol, then put the tooth back and send the flask to an address they would give me. I did it. I’m sorry. Please don’t kill me.” The finished and Josie looked at Penelope for confirmation.

“He’s telling the truth.” She said and Josie nodded. She raised her eyebrow at the guy.

“What do I do with you?” She wondered out loud.

“Please don’t kill me.” The guy said again and Penelope rolled her eyes.

“It’s not even funny anymore.” She said going to the guy and tapping him on the shoulder for him to stand up. “I’ll finish from here.” She said to Josie and then left. Josie went to the lab then and started to look for reasons for why Hope would ask the guy to steal the tooth. After reading a bit on it, she got to the conclusion that Hope probably would run a forensic test on it. Damn it, thought Josie tired. She would have to do something about it.

* * *

“It was easier than I expected.” Josie said to Penelope just before Hope arrived at the at their house to dinner. Lizzie was in the living room watching TV and they were in the kitchen.

“Right?” Penelope said tasting the food. “When you said that we would have to get the information out of Hope, I had no idea she would make our job easier by asking to meet you.”

“Have you read her last emails?” Josie asked casually. Penelope narrowed her eyes at her.

“You just want to know what she and Lizzie have been talking about.” Penelope said and started to giggle. “This is totally not why we are paid for.” Penelope said opening her phone and going to the ghost app that showed Hope’s online history. Josie came next to her and started to read it. After a while they were both laughing.

“They’re totally flirting.” Josie said smiling.

“Of course they are. I told you they would take an instant liking for each other.” Penelope said smug.

“Who would take an instant liking for whom?” Lizzie asked entering the kitchen. They looked at her and Josie smiled.

“This book we’re reading. We knew the witch would like the prince immediately.” Josie said, the lie coming easy for her. Lizzie opened a big smile.

“Is it Queen of Shadows?” Lizzie exclaimed excited. Josie felt a bit guilty. “Dorian and Manon are mates. I just know it.” She started to babble about the books and all the evidence that the two characters were mates and Penelope looked at Josie with that look that told her that Penelope’s heart was also heavy for lying this much. After a bit of talking, they heard a knock on the door. Lizzie looked at her. “Can you now tell me the name of the friend?” Lizzie asked curious for the hundredth time this afternoon and Josie ignored her smirking. Lizzie buffed and then “Okay, I’m going to know in a bit anyways.”

When Penelope finally arrived in the kitchen and Josie was about to greet Hope, she heard Lizzie’s shocked voice. “Mikaelson.” Josie’s eyes snapped back at Lizzie. She looked like she was going to throw up.

“I’m going to kill you, Saltzman.” Hope uttered furious. Josie looked at Penelope then and recognized the other’s look automatically. Josie watched Lizzie and Hope fighting and walked to Penelope, that was too busy being stunned by Hope and Lizzie.

“We totally screwed up.” Josie whispered alarmed.

* * *

“What does this have to do with the fact that you drugged me and now I don’t even know where I am?” Lizzie asked after Josie finished telling. “And with the fact that it’s all my fault for being too smart?”

“I was getting there.” Josie sighed. “You know that our biologic mother was a doctor.” Josie said and Lizzie nodded. "When she met dad, she fell in love at sight and not long after, they decided to have kids.”

“Why are you telling me this? I know the story. They tried but she couldn’t get pregnant so they resorted to _in vitro._ One day before they transferred the eggs though, she died in an accident. Dad was wrecked but he decided that he couldn’t abandon their dream so he found someone to be a surrogate.” Lizzie finished. Josie nodded.

“What you don’t know is that she used to work to a secret organization. She was one of their best researchers. She was a genius, really. So when dad decided to have us, they made sure that they could keep an eye on us. They did it by sending one of their agents to be the surrogate. Caroline, the woman that raised us, was also an agent. Her job was only to have us but she fell in love with the babies she was carrying and decided to raise us along with dad. That’s why she traveled a lot when we were little. She was always out doing her job.” Josie said watching the emotions cross her sister’s face. She feared this day since she was eighteen; the day she would have to tell Lizzie.

“Why?” Lizzie asked. “Why they were interested in us?”

“Well, Lizzie, you’re the smart one between us so I know that you probably know all the statistics and research about the intelligence and genetics.” Josie said softly. “They wanted to know if one of us would be as gifted as mom was. It turned out that you were. By the age of seven, you were learning algebra and by the age of twelve you could put to shame a university student.” Josie smiled fondly at the memories. “You were the genius that they wanted.”

“They didn’t want me enough since you’re the one that is working with them, because that’s what you’re trying to tell me, right? You work with them.” Lizzie asked blankly, staring at nothing.

“You work for them, Lizzie.” Josie said gently. She noticed then that Hope’s hand was on Lizzie’s and that was the only thing grounding her sister. Again Josie felt the guilt creeping in.

“What?” Lizzie asked astonished. 

“Since you were sixteen, actually. Remember the project you had to work as your admission application to university?” Josie asked.

“Of course I remember. They asked me to create a code to put in a program. I had to solve some equations but eventually I had the code.” Lizzie said frowning. “Why?”

“They had a whole team of scientists working on it for months until one of them decided to give it to you as project. You solved their problem in a month.” Josie said amazed, shaking her head. “They were impressed to say the least. They tested us in more ways than we’ll ever know. The point is that we finally went to university. Remember that first summer vacation?” Josie said and watched Lizzie blushing and glancing at Hope.

“Of course I remember.” Lizzie said and Penelope giggled.

“She’s not talking about you eloping with Hope.” Penelope said and Lizzie rolled her eyes blushing even more.

“Fuck off, Penelope.” Lizzie shouted and then looked at Josie. “You went to Europe with your friends.”

“That’s what I told you.” Josie said watching betrayal cross Lizzie’s face. “In that first year of university I started to work with the organization. I was thrilled to work with them. Finally someone had noticed me and not you, I thought.” Josie said bitter. She was young and innocent. “I didn’t know everything back then so as soon as they offered me a chance, I took it. So I started my training that Summer. I thought that it would be hard to lie to you but you almost didn’t text me that Summer. You only talked to me ever now and then about _this girl_.” Josie said looking pointedly at Hope. “Summer Vacation Girl became her name. I had never understood why you hadn't told me her name.”

“I didn’t know her name either.” Lizzie said shyly side-eyeing Hope. “And I actually didn’t want to tell you that I had ran away with a girl that I didn’t even know.” She finished blushing again. Josie noticed that Hope was looking at Lizzie’s face with amazement; as if something on it dumbfounded her.

“You shouldn’t, by the way.” Josie said frowning. “Haven’t you paid attention to all the times we watched Criminal Minds?” Josie asked and Lizzie only gave her a look that said _not enough to realize I had a spy in the family. Three actually, if I count you and the two moms._ How Josie could understand that from one look was a twin thing. “Well, everything was amazing for the both of us until you called me crying and said that you were taking a plane to Switzerland.”

“It was after Hope left me.” Lizzie said evenly.

“What?” Hope asked startled. “You left me.”

“I mean, yeah. We had a stupid fight and I took your car and went to the city to pick up the surprise I had ordered for you when I got a call from my professor telling me that my simulation in the lab had found an equation and I should go back right away. I went back to your house but you weren’t there so I left you a note and tried to call you. You texted me saying that you wanted me gone when you returned I was stunned but I left. What would I do?” Lizzie said, a tear falling from her eyes. At this point Hope wasn’t holding her hand anymore. Hope was shaking her head.

“This isn’t right. When I woke up on the beach, you were gone, so I thought that you had went out for a walk in the city to clear you head since you had borrowed the car. I took a shower and waited for you to come back until I got a call saying that my credit card had been used and they wanted to check if it was me. It wasn’t, so they asked me to go to the bank in the city. I called an uber and texted you so I could meet you there but you never returned my text. When I went back to the house, my car was in the garage but you were gone. So were your things. I was shocked that you left without even talking to me. I waited for you to come back, actually, because I was sure you wouldn’t just leave. When you didn’t, I went back to our university and went to your dorm just to find it empty. I asked people about you but they didn’t know you. I even went to the secretary and asked them to look for a student with the last name Saltzman. They said they never had a student with that last name attending the university. I thought you had scammed me. _For what_ I had no idea since you hadn’t stolen anything.” Hope finished and then they both looked at Josie.

“I swear I didn’t know it.” Josie started. “They wanted to make sure Lizzie was going to Switzerland so they got rid of Hope.” Josie said watching the pain of what _could’ve been_ crossing Hope and Lizzie’s faces.

“They split us?” Hope asked lowly. Josie nodded.

“Why did they need me to go to Switzerland so bad that they couldn’t risk me being in love?” She asked coldly again. Josie hated to see her acting like that.

“They were after this man for years. He was all kinds of bad. His accusations included contraband, slavery, murder, international terrorism.” Josie said the last part with a chilling sensation. “He liked to be bad and he wanted us to know it. It was a game for him. Every time he would do something bad, he would give us a warning and a problem to solve that would keep the bad thing from happening.” Josie said shaking her head. “Sometimes they were able to stop it. But not always. When they took you to Switzerland, they wanted you to solve one of his problems. He had given them one week and they had been trying to solve it but they couldn’t so they decided to give it to you. So they found a way to take you to CERN in Switzerland because it was both a place with technology enough to get to work as soon as you solved the problem and was also away from the US, away from where he intended to destroy.”

“What?” Lizzie asked appalled.

“They couldn’t risk leaving you here to die if they couldn’t find a solution.”

“But you were in the country.” Lizzie whispered.

“I wasn’t essencial.” Josie uttered with the acceptance she had been building with the years. “It was when she called me for the first time; the voice. She told me you had three hours to save mine the whole country’s lives. She told me to call you and give you an encouragement.” Josie felt the tears prickling in her eyes. “I had no idea what to do but I called you.”

“I remember that call. As soon as I got at CERN, they put me in a room with a lot of computers and told me to solve the problem. That it was a test. When you called me, I was about to hang up when they told me that I could answer. I thought that your voice seemed weird but you deflected and kept talking about how clever I was. Then you said that you needed to go finish an essay and we said our goodbyes. Then you told me that you bet I couldn’t solve my test in only two hours. You knew I loved a bet so I bet I could.” Lizzie said, the new meaning of Josie’s words settling in. “And I did.” She said and Josie nodded. The silence was a weapon and Josie had used it as such through the years, but she had never felt the truth of it as she was feeling right now watching her sister breath hopelessly thinking about all the implications of what happened. “If I hadn’t solved it…” She started and Josie literally felt the temperature in the room dropping.

“But you did.” Josie heard Hope whispering in Lizzie’s ear as she hugged her. Josie looked away. She had spent a lot of time in her life looking at things that should be private to people, including her own sister, but this time was too much. She looked at Penelope and noticed her shining eyes. She nodded at Josie with encouragement.

“Well, after all that, I made a deal with them that you could never know what happened; no one could. They wanted you greedily and I wanted to protect you so I rationalized that you were an asset better used without you knowing, that if you ever knew you would snap because you couldn’t deal with the pressure. One of our old teachers, that was actually an agent and a psychologist, agreed with me and I signed a contract saying that I was responsible for you.” Josie finished and Lizzie nodded.

“Okay" Lizzie said taking a deep breath to steady herself. "I just don’t understand how all of it has anything to do with Mr. DeLuce and me and Hope finding out a lot of neglects in the investigation.” Lizzie said frowning.

“He is the man with the problems. The one with the riddles and equations. The one we’ve been trying to get for years.” Josie told them. They all stared at each other, the weight of everything Josie just said falling over them.

“But-” Lizzie started to say when a bell started to sound, Josie looked at Penelope worried. She jumped out of the chair and went to the computer room; Penelope, Hope and Lizzie following her.

“What’s happening?” She heard Hope ask.

“Someone is trying to hack into our computers.” Penelope answered.

“Who’s it?” Penelope asked when Josie finished typing a password. A message popped on the screen.

“There’s one thing I forgot to tell you.” Said Josie looking at Lizzie pained. “He has been looking for you for the past 6 years. He wants to kill you.” Josie said at her sister and walked away from the computer for them to read the message. On the screen one little line:

**GAME ON**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE SAY YOU LIKE IT IN THE COMMENTS.


	7. The Final Equation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The shit show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't even say anything. Just... don't hate it. Please love it.

_“Did you know that sounds with frequency below 20 hertz are known to cause anxiety, deep sorrow and chills? It’s called infrasound. The movie industry uses it to intensify the scare in horror movies or the fright in suspense ones. It’s also used by churches with their organ pipes to make their followers be more melancholic, therefore more susceptible to their teachings. Low sounds can even cause optical illusions. It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Saltzman babbled excitedly and Hope just nodded and watched amazed. She had no fucking idea how that subject she was talking about had started but it didn’t really matter because she could listen to the other girl speaking mandarin as long as she could just stare at her. Hope was snapped out of it when she heard a clicking sound._

_“Hey, Saltzman, stop talking for a bit and smile for the camera.” Hope said, smiling when the other girl frowned looking around like she had forgotten that they were inside a photo booth. She kissed her frown away and laughed when Saltzman blushed again. Hope was sure that no one else in the world blushed as much as the girl in front of her did. Saltzman, seeing Hope’s big smile, returned it at the exact moment Hope heard the last click of the camera. Without having to see it, she knew that that last picture would be her favorite._

_“Look at us.” Saltzman said laughing when she took the pictures from the booth. Hope looked at it._

_“It’s perfect.” She whispered with reverence. It was perfect. They looked so happy and young and in love. So in love. Hope looked at the last picture and her heart almost exploded. It was her favorite, indeed. They were laughing at each other; their eyes meeting and their hands clasped together. If love were ever captured by camera, Hope would say that this was the moment it happened._

_“This is yours and this is mine.” She said giving Hope one of the pics and keeping the other, a copy of Hope’s. Now what about you go ahead and order us something delicious so we can take home while I’ll go to that gift shop to buy something for my sister?” Home. Hope’s entire body reacted when she heard her saying home; calling Hope’s home hers too. “Summer’s almost over and my sister will kill me if I don’t buy her a gift.” She said smiling and Hope only nodded. When they parted, Saltzman’s words kept ringing inside Hope’s mind: Summer’s almost over. Hope shook her head at the chilling feeling of loss that washed over her body when she heard those words. She didn’t need to be worried, she told herself, Saltzman loved her, Hope could feel it as bright as the sun, and when Summer was finally over, Hope and the girl would tell each other their first names and Hope would ask her to be her girlfriend. Everything would be alright, no, not alright; everything would be perfect._

* * *

“What does it mean? What does GAME ON mean?” Hope asked worried.

“I have no idea.” Josie answered. “I guess it’s another riddle. Something for us to discover before something terrible happens.” She said sadly looking at her sister. Hope looked at Lizzie too. She was staring at the computer screen, a tired look on her face. Hope was still trying to process everything Josie had just explained them. The fact that this organization that Hope didn’t even know the name was responsible for taking Lizzie away from her made her angry. How could they? Hope spent the last six years trying to get over it.

“What does it all have to be with me?” She asked after a moment. She looked at Penelope. “And how come you also got involved?” Penelope sighed.

“You were my assignment.” Penelope said sitting on one the chairs. She looked at Josie that was typing something on the computer. Then she looked back at Hope. “Your dad was a very famous artist.”

“Don’t tell me he also worked for them.” Hope said grunting and throwing herself on the chair in front of Penelope.

“He didn’t. But they wanted him to. He wasn’t only good at making incredible and expansive art. He was also good at spotting a copy and recognizing the author by the strokes. He was called as consultant in a lot of FBI cases that involved art forgeries.”

“I know this. The FBI used to ask him to analyze painting and sculptures all the time.” Hope said frowning.

“Well, he didn’t only analyze it and proved it authentic or fake. Sometimes the FBI also asked him to make a fake too.” Penelope said careful.

“What?” Hope shouted surprised.

“You, as an art student, Hope, knows that most of the art pieces that are in museums and expositions are not really real. They’re just copies and the real ones are being kept safe in a lock. Your dad was responsible for making a fair share of the fake ones. He was a genius. He could make a painting more authentic than the original.” Penelope said impressed. “Of course the organization would want him to work for them, but he was rich and influent enough that he was able to avoid it. After he died in that accident, they started to keep an eye on you.”

“Why?” Hope asked.

“Your dad was working in a project for the FBI just before he died. Something about hidden messages in paintings. When he died no one never found out where he kept all the information about it. They wanted to keep an eye on you in case you stumbled on it.”

“And how exactly you were assigned to babysit me?” Hope asked sarcastic.

“It was a coincidence, really. There’s something you have to understand about them.” She said now looking at both Hope and Lizzie. “This organization doesn’t even have a name because it isn’t supposed to exist. It’s everywhere and nowhere. They choose their agents when they’re still young like Josie on her first year of university and Lizzie when she was only 16 and they sent her first problem. They have people in all types of jobs and places. My job before you was kind of simple. I’m editor as a cover to my real job: analyze documents. I make translations and examine documents looking for hidden meanings in it. They sent me intercepted messages between governments and coded texts.”

“I’m loving to find out this much about my own family.” Lizzie exclaimed coldly. Penelope looked at her and opened her mouth to talk when her eyes caught Josie’s. Josie shook her head tiredly and Penelope nodded and looked back at Hope.

“The point is that when you wrote your first book they saw it as an opportunity to keep a closer eye on you by sending me to be your editor.” Hope glanced at Lizzie, then, knowing that she didn’t know Hope was a writer. Lizzie, noticing Hope’s glance, smiled softly and rolled her eyes.

“I know you’re Andrea Labonair and that you’ve been exchanging emails with me.” She said laughing at Hope’s shocked face.

“How do you know?” Hope asked.

“Only I would have such a luck to have the writer flirting with me through email being the same person that broke my heart.” Lizzie said shaking her head. “That I thought that broke my heart.” She added later looking at Hope with an intensity that burned her. Hope blushed and looked away. “Let me guess.” Lizzie said getting Penelope’s attention. “When I decided to write a book they also saw it as an opportunity to get me.” Lizzie said rolling her eyes.

“Yes. I was working with Hope for two years and everything was amazing. Such an easy job. Then, out of nowhere, may I add, you decided to write a book. I mean, you’re a scientist. Why would you want to write a book?” Penelope exclaimed confused.

“You do know that they’re not mutually exclusive. I can be both a writer and scientist.” Lizzie said slowly and Penelope rolled her eyes.

“Clearly.” Penelope said looking at Lizzie fondly. Hope could see that she loved her wife’s sister. “So they sent me and I became your editor. I didn’t know all the shit you were involved with but I would soon find out.” She said now looking at Josie that flinched.

“Alyssa got excited.” Josie said grunting and covering her eyes with her hands.

“It’s a way of putting it.” Penelope said sarcastic.

“Wait.” Lizzie said frowning. “Alyssa as in Alyssa Chang, your partner?” She asked looking at Josie.

“Yes. She our hitwoman.” Josie said sighing.

“Hitwoman.” Lizzie repeated deliberately.

“Yeah, she kills people for us.” Penelope explained condescending.

“I fucking know what a hitwoman is.” Lizzie hissed at Penelope that raised her hand in defense. If everything weren’t so unreal, Hope would probably laugh.

“What did Alyssa do to you?” Hope asked curious.

“They didn’t tell me that Josie and Alyssa were also part of us. They never tell us anything.” Penelope said angry. “When I met Lizzie and started to keep an eye on her, Alyssa and Josie started to suspect of me. The abducted me and brought me here _for a talk_.” She finished raising both her eyebrows in a clear indication that the talk meant torture.

“She didn’t hurt you that much, Penny.” Josie said sweetly. Penelope only looked at her.

“You burned my hair. With fire! And threatened to burn other parts too.” Penelope shouted feigning indignation.

“But I didn’t. I thought that you were really cute and I didn’t want to scar your beautiful body.” Josie said back. Hope looked at Lizzie appalled. Lizzie only shook her head in total disbelief.

“You two are crazy.” She said at the couple.

“After that we got a call from our boss saying that we should work together.” Josie said after smiling sweetly at her wife and getting a loving eye roll at it from her.

“So that’s why you both knew that we were digging in the DeLuce’s case. You were spying on us.” Hope said. “What I don’t understand is why you had to knock us out instead of just talking like you’re doing now.” Hope said touching her temple, where a bandage was covering a wound.

“I’m sorry about that.” Penelope said wincing. “I let you fall and you hit your head on the chair. But don’t worry, I cleaned the blood so Mr. DeLuce doesn’t know who you are and also so I can tell my boss that you don’t have any involvement with us.” She said apologetic.

“It was my idea. I’m working with Mr. DeLuce. He probably had people following me to see if I were going to betray him. I needed to pretend that I had knocked you down to prevent you from spilling the truth. I didn’t know if the house had cameras or recorders. I had to be careful. He could just decide to kill us all at sight if I did something wrong. I just needed him to believe that I was on his side long enough for me to put you two in my car and get away.” Josie said looking at them.

“But now he already knows we’re spies since he’s trying to hack into our computers.” Penelope said pointing at the computers with her chin. “Is there something new in it?”

“No. The screen only shows the GAME ON message and nothing more.” Josie said sighing. Hope watched as Lizzie tilted her head. She was about to say something when Josie stood up and took a folder from one of the shelves. “That’s the real crime file.” She said opening it. “You two were right about almost everything. Twenty-three years ago Mr. DeLuce was in India working in his scientific research center. He had a thing with one of the scientists and she got pregnant. When she was about to tell him, though, she found out that the research center she worked for was a cover to biologic weapons production; to synthesize it and weaponize it. India is the second biggest tea producer of the world and Mr. DeLuce owns 70% of the exportation rights in India. He used it as a way to transport and sell bioweapons as if it were tea commercialization.”

“Clever.” Lizzie said impressed. “And also horrific.” 

“The scientist, when she found out, stole a pen drive full of information and disappeared. No one never heard of her again until about ten months ago when a young men contacted Mrs. DeLuce and tried to convince her that her husband was a bad man.”

“Mr. DeLuce’s son.” Hope guessed and Josie nodded.

“Apparently, the information his mom stole was in a pen drive and for it to be open required both a password, that he had, and a key number that Mr. DeLuce kept with him. He tried to convince her to help him but she denied. He was desperate and angry; he blamed him for his mother’s death. He was acting to passionately and tried to break into Mr. DeLuce’s house. Mr. DeLuce caught him and tortured him for days in that movie room we were at. His wife was off vising a friend. That’s why you guys thought that the way the teeth were pulled out seemed weird. It’s a classic torture method. Pull the teeth, cut a finger, make them bleed.”

“Not a sophisticated one.” Lizzie said and everyone looked at her. “I mean, I would’ve used poising. That are a lot of them that can cause the same pain and avoid the mess that the blood causes.” She said simply. Josie agreed and Penelope rolled her eyes.

“Josie likes poisons too.” Penelope said proud.

“I don’t like it. I prefer.” She said graciously. “But Mr. DeLuce likes to scare people and you can’t deny that pulling one tooth or two out is a great way of doing it.” Josie said and Lizzie nodded. “The thing is that his wife got home while he was taking a shower and went to the movie room and found the boy there. She tried to help him, but he was too weak to move and she wasn’t strong enough. She decided to call the police, so she ran away and tried calling the police, but she should’ve known better. Her husband put a type of block on her phone without her knowing that intercepted her calls. When he learned that she was trying to call the police, he tracked her down and brought her back to the house. He would just kill both his wife and his son, but he didn’t account for her wife having a visitor over. She left the house scared after seeing the wife leaving the movie room covered in blood. Instead of calling the police right away, she drove hours and hours away. When she finally called the police, she told them that her friend, Mrs. DeLuce had run from the house covered in blood. When the police got to the house, she was already dead, poisoned by ricin like you said, and Mr. DeLuce had already taken the boy away to keep interrogating him. When I was called to the case, I help to change some thing to make Mr. DeLuce look innocent.”

“Wow.” Hope exclaimed.

“Yeah. And the police never suspected about them being father and son because Mr. DeLuce is one of those rare medicine cases. He had a bone marrow transplant a few years ago that changed his entire blood. When they tested his blood and the blood that they found on the wife’s clothes and on the ground, a routine exam in these cases, they didn’t confirm paternity.”

“Incredible.” Lizzie exclaimed again. “Talk about luck.”

“Not for us because we’re going to die.” Penelope said.

“Probably.” Josie sighed.

“Because he wants to kill me so badly.” Lizzie declared and Josie only looked at her softly.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why does he want to kill me? I didn’t do anything.” Lizzie rolled her eyes.

“Except frustrate his attempts at killing people; his favorite hobby.” Josie said raising her eyebrows. “You have no idea how many times you saved people by solving the problems they sent you and the best thing is that he didn’t even know it was you doing it. That kept you safe.” Josie said.

“But now he knows?” Lizzie asked.

“Maybe. Has been three hours since we left Mr. DeLuce’s house. God knows he probably knows our favorite colors by now. I hope he didn’t go after Alyssa.” Josie said worried.

"If he did, I'm sorry for him." Penelope said softly trying to relax her wife. Josie smilled.

“Let’s say he already knows who I am.” Lizzie said looking at the screen now. “Let’s say he knows I’m a scientist and a writer and I’m the one he wants.” Lizzie wondered out loud. “And this message is for me.”

“Yeah, but what would it mean to you?” Josie asked frowning. Hope saw the answer before Lizzie could say. She saw it in Lizzie’s eyes.

“It’s an anagram. Just like my pseudonym.”

* * *

“It’s so easy.” Lizzie exclaimed. Why did she take so long to realize? It was literally right in front of her. _GAME ON_.

“An anagram for what?” Penelope asked standing up and looking at the screen too. Lizzie looked at it again.

“GENOMA. It’s the Portuguese word for genome.” Lizzie said sure.

“But why Portuguese? What does it mean?” Penelope asked confused.

“A location.” Josie shouted. “That’s the kind of thing he does. He gives riddles and problems to solve. He has scientific centers like the Indian one all over the world and one of them is in Portugal.” Josie said as she went to one of the computers and started to type something. After a second a screen with a lot of equations appeared. “You were right. If you try to get into the site of the research center with the login GAME ON and the password GENOMA a screen with equations to solve shows up. Look.”

**CONGRATULATIONS ON THE FIRST LEVEL. I ACTUALLY THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE FASTER TO UNDERSTAND. NOW, CAN YOU FIGURE THIS ONE OUT TOO BEFORE I CAN GET TO YOU?**

Lizzie read the message and felt a chilling feeling cross her. The man was insane. It was all a game for him. Lizzie looked at her sister. “If I don’t solve it, what happens?” She asked already knowing the answer.

“People die? Nothing? I don’t know.” Josie said defeated. Lizzie took a deep breath. She looked at Hope. Hope came to her and put both hand on her shoulders.

“I trust you.” She said softly. Lizzie looked at her. _Her first love_ , Lizzie thought. To think that they were robbed of each other; that they were split apart and Lizzie spent all the years after that keeping herself locked and scared of giving her heart again. Hope seemed to know what she was thinking because she smiled softly and knelt in front of Lizzie’s chair, in front of Lizzie, and kissed both her hands. “We still have time, you know.” She said and then laughed as if just remembering something funny. “Think of it as an escape room. You loved those, huh?” She said caressing Lizzie’s hands with hers. Lizzie nodded smiling at the memories that she spent years avoiding. She approached Hope, forgetting for just one second about everything happening around. She closed her eyes and felt Hope’s nose touching hers. She could feel Hope’s breath, warm and shaky; probably as shaky as Lizzie’s. When their lips touched lightly for the first time after years, it was as if they had never been apart. It was as perfect as the first time.

But then an alarm startled them. Lizzie opened her eyes, breaking the kiss, and looked around. “What now?” She asked.

“They’re outside trying to break in.” Josie said agitated pointing at a camera showing a lot of people in the woods that circled the place where they were.

“Shit. We’re already dead.” Penelope sighed.

“I refuse to die.” Lizzie said and Hope smiled at her and even with the world’s fate on her hands, she felt those damned butterflies that was actually a shot of oxytocin coursing through her body. She went to the computer, an idea starting to form on her mind. She started to type something and then looked at her sister. “Is there a way for us to leave without them noticing? Like a backdoor?”

“Yes. But the computer’s here. You’ll need it to solve the equations.”

“Oh, I already solved them.” Lizzie said simply; maybe a bit smugly too.

“What?” Penelope asked stunned.

“The thing is that when they sent me those equations and problems to solve over the years, I didn’t have the context; I didn’t know what to look for. Now that I know everything it’s easier. It wasn’t really an equation. It was a code. Look.” She showed them. “When I copy it and finally run it, It will open our systems for them to hack it. After that, it’ll be only minutes for them to break into this place that I still don’t know where it is.” Lizzie said frowning.

“So don’t run the program.” Penelope said.

“If I don’t, something bad will happen.” Lizzie said, still not sure of what.

“Okay, follow me.” Josie said standing up. Lizzie finished linking the computer to the tablet that she found next to it. When she made sure everything was set, she followed her sister.

“I feel like you’re tricking us.” Lizzie heard Hope whispering behind her. Lizzie glanced at her.

“Why?”

“You have the same face you had when you tricked me into locking myself in one of the rooms of that escape room just so you could win.” Hope whispered with narrowed eyes. Lizzie smirked at her.

“I won, didn’t I?” She said arrogant and Hope rolled her eyes. They followed Josie to the morgue.

“Well, I didn’t think our way out would be dying.” Hope said sarcastic. Penelope sighed with annoyance and then went to one of the creepy drawers of the refrigerator; the place where you put a corpse. She opened it and then looked at Lizzie.

“Get in.” She said. Lizzie sure did not get it.

“Why?” She asked inspecting it.

“It’s our way out.” Josie answered. “I’ll go first.” She said laying there and then nodding at Penelope. Penelope then proceeded to close it. When she opened again after a few seconds, it was empty. She looked at Lizzie with a raised eyebrow. Lizzie shrugged and went for it.

“Why not?” She laid there feeling the cold of the metal slide against her skin. When Penelope closed it, Lizzie felt a cold air on her feet and after a second she was being pulled to the other side. By Josie, she realized when she finally stood up. She looked amazed at the secret passage.

“Wow.” Lizzie exclaimed as her sister closed it again and a few moments later Hope popped up. She looked at Lizzie and Lizzie could see that she was just as amazed as she was. She came closer to Lizzie.

“I know that I should be worried that we’re probably going to die but it’s so cool.” She exclaimed and Lizzie nodded agreeing with her. It was cool. When Penelope had finally popped this side, Josie told them to follow her again. Lizzie looked at the tablet. _Their time was running_. After walking a short distance, they end up in what looked like a tunnel. A car was waiting for them there.

“How is there possible to have a tunnel under a forest?” Lizzie asked shocked.

“Don’t ask me. I didn’t put it here.” Josie said shrugging. They entered the car. Penelope started to drive it away. Lizzie looked again at the tablet and clicked _run_. She hoped it was the right choice. Hope glanced at her but didn’t say nothing. After five minutes of driving in the dark tunnel, Lizzie’s tablet began to ring.

“Shit.” She exclaimed.

“What does _shit_ mean?” Penelope asked. Lizzie looked at Hope. Hope apparently understood her cue because she started to talk.

“What did you to the poor guy that hacked the police for me?” Hope asked.

“What? Why?” Penelope said, momentarily distracted. Josie, though, shifted herself on the front seat to look at Lizzie. _Shit_. 

“Did you kill the poor soul?” Hope asked concerned.

“Of course not. We’re not killers. We threaten and sometimes do some light torture. Alyssa kills. I merely sent him away.” Penelope said.

“What does _sent him away_ means?” Hope asked looking at Josie, trying to get her attention away from Lizzie; away from the _shit_ she was doing on her tablet. Josie only glanced at Hope and looked back at Lizzie.

“It means that we changed his name and moved him and his family away from here so Mr. DeLuce wouldn’t find out about his slip and cut his throat.” She said looking at Lizzie intensely. “Next time you buy someone, make sure they can keep their tongue inside their mouth.”

“I’ll be more careful next time.” Hope said and Josie’s eyes snapped at her. Lizzie held out a laugh. Josie looked at her.

“What the hell are you doing, Lizzie?” Josie asked her as Penelope finally stopped.

“Solving our problems.” Lizzie said confident.

“Let’s go.” Penelope said leaving the car. They followed her to a staircase up that led to a door. When Penelope opened it, they entered something that looked like a deposit of a store. They followed out of it and Lizzie realized it was a deposit of convenience store of a gas station. Penelope led them to a car parked in front of it and opened the door. At Hope and Lizzie’s surprised face, she smiled widely.

"They have a lot of cool getaway ideas." She said as they entered the car. When she finally started to drive them to the road, a loud boom sounded in the distance, coming from the forest. Josie jumped on her seat and looked at Lizzie. Lizzie flinched.

“I exploded them.”

* * *

Hope bit her lip looking worriedly at Josie. She spent the last 30 minutes pacing around the little hotel room they were at. Hope glanced at Lizzie’s peaceful expression and then shook her head. She really had exploded them. Hope looked at Penelope then. She was typing something on her computer. She seemed concentrated. Hope’s eyes snapped back at Josie when she finally stopped pacing.

“Why?” She asked looking at Lizzie.

“I thought you wouldn’t ask.” Lizzie said.

“Don’t, Lizzie. Please. Don’t sass at me.” Josie said sighing tired. Hope realized that Penelope glanced worriedly. “That’s why mom and I decided that you should never know about any of it.”

“What? Mom also voted for my ignorance?” Lizzie asked hurt and Josie winced realizing that she had revealed more than she intended.

“Of course she knew. She spent our entire childhood trying to get them away from us. What mom would want a life like this” she said raising her hands “to her kids? She did almost everything but she was just a woman. When she found out that I was part of it, she cried and screamed at me. Then she hugged me and I told her what they had done to you; sending you to Switzerland. We decided that you couldn’t know. We were right. Look at this.” Josie said low. Hope could see Lizzie holding back her tears.

“Hey, don’t do this. She just saved our lives and killed the man that they’ve been looking for years.” Hope said defensive.

“Yeah, but a what cost? Why do you think that they didn’t kill him 8 months ago when we finally learned the identity of the guy that have been plaguing us for years?” Josie asked calmly. “They wanted to know with whom he has business with; where are his hidden places. That’s how our job works. We don’t just flip a switch and kill people.” Josie said sadly as if all of her years of trying to protect Lizzie from this life had meant nothing. Hope watched as Lizzie took a deep breath and then lifted her hand, a pen drive resting on it. “What is it?” Josie asked frowning.

“Whom he had business with, the hidden places and probably a lot more than that.” Lizzie said miserably. “I did think about that before flipping a switch and killing people.” She said giving Josie the pen drive and leaving the room.

“Lizzie…” Josie called but Lizzie didn’t look back. Hope went after her and found her sitting on the floor in front of their bedroom door. Hope sat next to her.

“I’m not angry at her.” Lizzie said. “I’m just sad that she had to live in fear for all these years. Can you imagine that? Living with a lie?” Lizzie asked and Hope shook her head. She couldn’t.

“I can’t imagine that it’s easy to learn that you’ve been lied to for years either.” Hope said.

“You and me both.” Lizzie said tired, then “I would never leave you, you know?” Lizzie whispered. Hope’s heart skipped a beat.

“I know.”

“I’m so sorry that we lost so much time.” Lizzie said looking away, tears on her eyes. Hope closed their distance and kissed her shoulder feeling how Lizzie was trembling.

“Me too.” She said kissing Lizzie’s hair and cheek and ear. “But it’s not too late, is it?” She whispered back, almost too scared to hear the answer. She felt Lizzie smiling.

“I don’t think so, no.” Lizzie said turning her face to Hope and kissing her freely and loving and sweetly and so so eagerly that Hope felt the whole earth shifting to watch them.

“Hey, you two, get in. She’s coming.” Penelope appeared on the door. They stood up and went back to the room. “I sent them an email with our location. Since Lizzie was able to hack all the information before killing him and his bunch of murderes, they probably won’t kill us for doing a lot of things wrong.” She then looked at Josie. “But now that you two know about all this, they’ll want you to work for them.” Josie only nodded, not even able to look Lizzie in the eyes.

“There’s no way we can buy our freedom? We have money.” Hope asked and Penelope huffed.

“Unless you have The Littlest Wolf, no.” Penelope said sardonic.

“The Littlest Wolf?” Hope asked frowning.

“Yeah, our organization’s Holly Grail. After all these years, I think most of it is a myth but they’re still looking for it, so who knows?” Penelope said shrugging. “We don’t know what it is actually. It’s what your dad was working on before he died.” Penelope said looking at Hope. “But it’s lost, if it even ever existed in the first place.” Penelope said. Hope’s eyes widened; memories of Sundays spent painting with her dead flooding her mind.

 _“This is The Littlest Wolf.”_ Her dad said only when she was 14. _“We’re going to paint it together, okay? It’s like a puzzle. Each part of it a secret that only worthy eyes can see.”_ Her dad said smiling and at the time she didn’t understand what he had said; only focused in painting something beautiful with her dad. But now… Could it be?

“I think I can help with that.” Hope said smiling widely.

* * *

“And look at this picture of Hope drawing on the walls of her house.” Hope’s aunt, Rebekah, said smiling and showing it to Penelope, Josie and Lizzie. Lizzie smiled at how cute Hope looked with paint all over her body. Lizzie looked up and saw Hope watching her from the stairs when she felt her phone ringing on her pocket. She smiled already knowing who it was. She opened the email.

_Dear, love of my life_

_I love watching you with my family. Our should I say our family? Can we start calling each other’s family ours? I hope I’m not too forward._

_I already adopted another cat and named gave him both our last names. Now you’re trapped with me._

_Would it be too much if I asked you to bring your beautiful ass next to me? I miss you._

_Irrevocably yours, Hope, the love of your life._

_Ps: Please_

Lizzie finished reading it laughing. Hope kept sending her emails all the time. It became their thing. Lizzie loved it. She loved everything about Hope. She excused herself and went to sit next to Hope.

“You finally learned how to ask nicely.” Lizzie said smirking.

“Just to you.” Hope said winking and making Lizzie laugh. Lizzie looked back at her aunt showing Hope’s baby pics.

“You looked really cute and mischievous on that picture.” Lizzie said and Hope blushed.

“My mom took it. She took pictures of me doing anything that she found remotely cute.” Hope said rolling her eyes fondly. Lizzie smiled and took her hand. They both stayed like that, sitting on the stairs with intertwined hands for what looked like ages, until Hope’s little cousin, Nik, came to them and smiled a big bright smile at them

“Is Lizzie your girlfriend?” He asked smirking.

“Yes, she is.” Hope answered proudly.

“She’s beautiful.” He said looking at Lizzie longingly.

“She is but she’s mine.” Hope said back serious and the boy laughed.

“Do you kiss her a lot?” He asked and Lizzie felt herself blushing.

“Kiss her like this?” Hope said pulling Lizzie in for a kiss that served to the boy's amazed displeasure judging his _ew_.

“Exactly. Ew.” Hope said smiling when the boy ran away, probably to tell his other cousins that he had seen cousin Hope kissing her girlfriend. With the tongue. Lizzie laughed at the exaggerated story that would come out of that.

“I want to give you something.” Lizzie said standing up and taking Hope to the beach; their beach. After Hope told the organization that she had The Littlest Wolf and that she was willing to give it to them in exchange of their freedom, the boss was eager to accept the deal if it became proved that it was really what they were looking for. After going to Hope’s apartment and Hope showing them the painting she had started doing with her dad when he was alive but was only able to finish years after it, they took it to lab. After some examination and a careful removal of the outside paint, it revealed a hidden painting; something secret and bellow the surface. A painting under the painting; something only the trained eyes could see. What was there, they had no idea. After it was confirmed that it was really The Littlest Wolf, the organization cut ties with them and finally set them free; Hope, Lizzie, Josie, Penelope, Caroline and Alyssa, this last one denying her way out saying that loved her life exactly how it was. When Lizzie had asked Hope if she was sad that she had to get rid of the painting she had done with her dad, she had smiled and said no. _It was his insurance; a way of keeping me safe and giving me a way out. I love him even more for that._ Now, a few weeks later, they were at the beach House. They place where Lizzie fall in love; where she spent the best moments she could ever have. The place where they would still make a lot of beautiful moments. Hope had told her family that it was finally time of bring that family back there and they all agreed happily.

When they found they place where Lizzie left Hope so many years ago to go to the city to pick up her gift, they sat down. Lizzie smiled. Who would’ve guessed that after all this she would still be able to give Hope the gift? She picked up a little box from her pocket and gave it to Hope. Hope looked at her and swallowed.

“Before I open.” She started looking inside Lizzie’s eyes. “I’m sorry that we fought that day before you left.”

“I’m sorry too.”

“You know what’s the funny thing?” Hope said smiling.

“Is it that you don’t even remember what it was about?” Lizzie asked knowing. After all these years, Lizzie had no idea what they had started the fight over.

“I think it was about you being a terrible cook and burning the kitchen.” Hope said laughing.

“Or because you used to snore very loudly.” Lizzie said laughing too. Then she set for a smile. “Maybe it was all of it and none of it. I wasn’t angry at you.” Lizzie said pointing at the box. “I wouldn’t have gone to pick it if I was.” Lizzie said softly. Hope opened the little box and took the little necklace inside in. She looked at it and gasped when she read the engraving.

“Always and Forever.” She whispered, her fingers tracing it as if it were sacred. “What my dad used to tell me when I was little.” Hope said, voice shaky. Lizzie bit her lip.

“Open it.” She said showing Hope that there was more. Hope opened the little locket. She smiled with shining eyes when she looked at it.

“It’s our picture. The perfect picture. From the photo booth.” Hope said with that smiled that made Lizzie see stars.

“It’s to show you that I’m yours. Always.” She said kissing Hope’s tears away. “And forever.” She whispered just before kissing her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And?
> 
> I really hope you liked it and will continue with me in my next fic. I'll post it probably in the weekend.

**Author's Note:**

> You know the drill... leave comments or else I'll cry inconsolably (is that a word? am i too dramatic? should I work on that?)
> 
> ps: know that my questions are rhetorical and therefore dont need answering.  
> pss: unless of course the answers are going to feed my ego.  
> psss: sorry for i am under the influence of caffeine


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